The true Chatterton; a new study from original documents

HE TRUE ;

CHATTERTON

JOHN H. INGRAM

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
FROM THE

SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND

THE GIFT OF

1891

■ft.^M.^^'^^. %^jy\\\^y>

Cornell University Library
PR 3343.154
The true Chatterton; a new st"dy from ori

3 1924 013 170 570

The original of tiiis book is in
tine Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013170570

THE TRUE CHATTERTON

BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS

OF

JOHN H. INGRAM

LIFE AND LETTERS OF EDGAR A. POE.

OLIVER MADOX BROWN: A Biography.

LIFE OF ELIZABETH B. BROWNING.

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE AND HIS
ASSOCIATES.

CLAIMANTS TO ROYALTY.

'IHE ALLEGEi:) TORTRAIT OF CHATTERTOX.

From :in engraving after X. C. Branwhite's picture.

THE
TRUE CHATTERTON

"7

A NEW STUDY FROM ORIGINAL
DOCUMENTS

BY

JOHN H. INGRAM

NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN

{All rights reserved.)

"What a sad, beautiful, but heart-wringing
romance is itself the story of Chatterton ! "

William Howitt.

PREFACE

SEVERAL years ago, in a paper on " Chatterton
and his Associates," contributed to Harpers
Magazine, I showed that the last word had not been
said about the boy poet, neither had all the discover-
able material concerning him been published. This
work is intended to make good the deficiencies referred
to. New matter contained in this volume comprises
" The Exhibition " and other, shorter poems, various
pieces of unknown and unpublished verse, and very
many items of interest now first published, or published
correctly for the first time.

The object of this biography is not only to furnish
new facts but to refute old falsehoods ; to represent
known truths in a new light, and to describe the
events of Chatterton's career in a more connected
manner than his chroniclers have hitherto deemed
necessary. A new interpretation has been given to
Barrett's dealings with the lad, and a certain amount
of complicity on the surgeon's part regarding the
manufacture of some of the Rowley Manuscripts has
been proved ; a different aspect from that prevalent
has been put upon Lambert's treatment of his appren-
tice ; a rigid exclusion has been made of the state-

8 PREFACE

ments attributed to Mrs. Edkins, out of which so much
untrustworthy biography has been fabricated ; it is
shown that the assertions made by Professor Wilson
and his copyists, that Burgum, Baker, Thistlethwaite,
and others were scholars at Colston's Hospital, are
incorrect and, consequently, the theories founded upon
such assumptions are fallacious ; a natural reason is
given to explain why Chatterton was impelled to pass
off his own work as that of mediaeval writers ; the
date of his composition of the Rowley papers is fixed,
and a true account of Horace Walpole's conduct
towards the young poet is furnished. In no previous
biography have these matters been satisfactorily
dealt with.

It has been no easy task to disentangle the true
from the false, for not only have opinions, anecdotes,
and dates been found contradictory and fictitious, but
even tombstones and parish registers have proved
inaccurate. Sir Robert Walpole is recorded to have
said of biographies, " I know they are all lies," and
those experienced in that department of literature will
agree that in many instances the politician's dictum
needs little qualification. Chatterton's memoirs have
been falsified and distorted by Thistlethwaite, by John
Dix, and even by the highly respected Joseph Cottle ;
his character has been vilified by Horace Walpole and
his entourage ; his writings have been corrupted by
Catcott and Barrett ; works not by him have been
imputed to his pen, whilst even grammatical errors
are ascribed to him, because of his adherence to the
practice of ancient authors. The much slandered
Chatterton never did anything so discreditable as did

PREFACE 9

many of those who have written about his deeds : as
did Barrett, Sir Herbert Croft, Horace Walpole, John
Dix, and others. Walter Thornbury considered that
Dix " has confused, entangled, and corrupted the
subject of Chatterton's life in such a way that only the
Last Day can ever set it right ! " but Mr. Harry
Buxton Forman, with more trust in the truth, says,
" Surely in these days of rigid and exact inquiry it
is not beyond possibility to separate fact from fiction,"
and in this work it is believed the possibility has
been accomplished.

Professor Wilson's biographical study of Chatterton
shows more research and greater sympathy with its
subject than any previous record of the lad, but, unfor-
tunately, its author's animadversions upon the work of
his predecessors will apply equally to his own. It is
rather a collection of materials for a biography than a
biography. It is notoriously replete with misprints,
mistakes, misstatements, and incorrect conclusions
derived from faulty premisses, so that it is unsafe to
trust to any of its assertions without confirmatory
evidence ; nevertheless, much that Wilson urges
in extenuation of having attempted to produce another
biography of one whose life has been written so often,
is applicable to the present work.

It is a more pleasant duty to be able to offer grate-
ful recognition of their aidful labours to many of my
predecessors. The poet's contemporaries. Dean
Milles, Bryant, and other Rowleyites, wrote according
to their light, and if their opinions are valueless, many
of their records are trustworthy. Although Sir
Herbert Croft's conduct was not honourable, we owe

10 PREFACE

to his investigation the fact that nearly all the domestic
correspondence of the poet and the record of many of
the chief incidents of his life were preserved for
posterity. The writings of Gregory, Tyrwhitt,
Malone, T. Warton, C. V. Le Grice, C. B. Willcox,
Southey, Cottle, and George Pryce have helped
towards the attainment of a truthful record of Chatter-
ton's career, whilst in recent times Professors Wilson
and Skeat, Mr. Edward Bell, the Rev. Dr. H. P.
Stokes, and others, have rendered my labours lighter
by their special and patient examination of the facts of
the poet's life and works.

Chalmers, in 1810, appears to have been the first to
suggest that Chatterton's chief authority for the
antique words he used in his Rowley Manuscripts was
Bailey's Dictionary, but it was left to C. V. Le Grice,
the schoolfellow and friend of Charles Lamb, to furnish
proof of the fact. In the Gentleman s Magazine for
1838 he gave a complete exposition of the poet's plan
of resorting to Bailey for his archaic words, and showed,
as an example of his familiarity with Bailey's compila-
tion, that all the strange words in Chatterton's quaint
letter to his friend William Smith were extracted from
that lexicon and that the signature to the epistle, so
carelessly misprinted by Cottle, is only an anagram of
" Thomas Chatterton." Le Grice, whose annotated
copy of Gregory's Life of the poet it is my good
fortune to possess, anticipated some recent discoveries
about Chatterton and his scheme of work, whilst
Professor Skeat completed the proof as to the lad's
system of workmanship in his introductory " Essay
on the Rowley Poems," and made as well a modernised

PREFACE 11

version of the poems themselves, for the Aldine
edition of the lad's metrical productions.

My warmest thanks are due to Dr. Anthony Finn,
Head Master of Colston's School, for placing at
my service the results of his researches in the
records of that institution and for other kind assist-
ance ; to Mr. Harry Goodwin Rooth for permission
to use a copy of his portrait of G. S. Catcott ;
to the Committee of the Bristol Art Gallery for
permission to make use of their invaluable col-
lection of Chatterton manuscripts, and to Mr. Richard
Quick, the Superintendent, for his courteous aid in
the inspection ; whilst I am under much obligation
to the British Museum authorities for the inspection
and use of their extensive collection of Chattertoniana.

Finally, I am, as are all admirers of the boy bard's
work, deeply indebted to Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton
for his wholly admirable and most important contri-
bution to literary criticism in an essay on Chatterton,
in " Ward's Poets." It is remarkable for showing,
and showing for the first time, the real value and
artistic merit of Chatterton's poetry ; its effect upon
the tone and character of the lyrical works of some of
his greatest successors and, through them, upon
modern English poetic literature generally.

JOHN H. INGRAM.

CONTENTS

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

XI. Stern Reality

PAGE
17

I. Parentage . . . . , • 19

II. Childhood • • . . . 28

III. School Days . . . . . .33

IV. Apprenticeship . . . . .51

V. The Rowley Romance . , . .63

VI. Junior Associates .... 87
VII. Bristol Elders ....

VIII. A Patron Wanted ....

IX. A Last Will and Testament

119

157
179

X. The Land of Promise .... 198

240

XII. In the Valley of the Shadow . . 265

The Survivors ..... 286

13

14 CONTENTS

APPENDICES

PAGE

A. " Mrs. Edkins's Account "... 292

B. "The Exhibition" ..... 295

C. Walpole ...... 305

D. Chatterton's Burial-place .... 308

E. Rowley Poems . . . -313

F. Portraits of Chatterton .... 335

Index ...... 339

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE ALLEGED PORTRAIT OF CHATTERTON . . Frontispiece

From an engraving after N. C. Branwhite's picture

FACING PAGE

VIEW OF BRISTOL IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . . I9

From an old print

CHATTERTON's BIRTHPLACE, PILE STREET . . .28

From a photograph by C. S. Wills

PILE STREET SCHOOL . . . . . -31

From a photograph by C. S. Wills

EDWARD COLSTON . . . . . -33

From an old engraving after the portrait by J. Richardson

COLSTON'S SCHOOL

From an old water-colour painting

From Chatterton's Indentures, by permission of the Bristol Art Gallery
Committee

SIGNATURE OF CHATTERTON WHEN A BOY

From his Indentures, by permission of the Bristol Art Gallery Committee

39

SIGNATURE OF CHATTERTON'S MOTHER . . -SI

53

INTERIOR OF MUNIMENT ROOM, REDCLIFF CHURCH, IN THE

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . . . . -63

From an old engraving

FACSIMILE OF ATTEMPTS BY CHATTERTON TO IMITATE

HANDWRITING OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY . . 66

NORTH PORCH, REDCLIFF CHURCH . . . -67

From J. Britton's "History of Redcliff Church"

16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FAaNG PAGE

EFFIGIES OF WILLIAM CANYNGES AND HIS WIFE . . 96

From George Pryce's "Memorials of the Canynges's Family"

GEORGE SYMES CATCOTT . . . . . II9

After the portrait by E. Bird, R.A., the property of Harry Goodwill Rootb, Esq.

WILLIAM BARRETT . . . . . .126

From an engraving after the portrait by Rymsdick

HENRY BURGUM ...... 135

From an old engraving after the portrait by T. Beach

HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD .... 161

From an old engraving

LINES ON HORACE WALPOLE IN FACSIMILE . . . 172

FIRST PAGE OF CHATTERTON'S WILL IN FACSIMILE . . 184

FACSIMILE OF AN EXTRACT FROM CHATTERTON's MS. OF

" kew gardens". ..... 199

W. BECKFORD, lord mayor of LONDON . . . 226

From an engraving of Moore's statue

SOUTH TRANSEPT, REDCLIFF CHURCH .... 245

From J. Britton's " History of Redcliff Church "

THE HOUSE WHERE CHATTERTON DIED, BROOK STREET,

HOLBORN ....... 281

From an old print

SIR HERBERT CROFT, BART. ..... 287

From an engraving after the portrait by Drummond

MONUMENT WITH PORTRAIT OF CHATTERTON IN THE

HERMITAGE, NEAR BATH ..... 335
From an old print

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

1713.

January 21, 1722.
September 29, 1729.

1739-

April 25, 1748 (?).

February 14, 1749.

August 3, 1752.

Thomas Chatterton senior born.
Entered Colston's Hospital School.
Apprenticed to Captain Edmund Saunders.
Appointed Master of Pile Street School.
Married to Sarah Young.
His daughter, Mary Chatterton (after-
wards Newton), born.
Thomas Chatterton senior died.

November 20, 1752.
January i, 1753.

1757-

August 3, 1760.

January 8, 1763.

July I, 1767.

October i, 1768.

November, 1768.

Thomas Chatterton junior, the poet, born.
Baptized at St. Mary Redcliff.
Placed at Pile Street Free School.
Entered Colston's Hospital School.
His first known verses published.
Apprenticed to Mr. John Lambert,

scrivener.
First " Rowley " paper, " Description of

the Mayor passing over the Old

Bridge," appeared in Farley's Bristol

Journal.
Introduced to G. S. Catcott and E.

Barrett.

2 17

18

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

December 21, 1768.

February 15, 1769.

March 25, 1769.

March 30, 1769.

April 8, 1769.

April 14, 1769.

July 24, 1769.

April 24, 1770.

August 24, 1770.

First letter to J. Dodsley.
Second letter to J. Dodsley.
First letter to H. Walpole,
Second letter to H. Walpole.
Third letter to H. Walpole.
Fourth letter to H. Walpole.
Fifth letter to H. Walpole.
Leaves Bristol for London.
Dies in Brook Street, London.

3 -c

H

2 o

THE TRUE CHATTERTON

CHAPTER I
PARENTAGE

FOR considerably over one hundred years pre-
vious to the birth of Thomas Chatterton, the
poet, the Chaddertons had been connected in various
lowly positions with the Church of St. Mary Red-
cliff, Bristol, but their connection with that beautiful
Gothic edifice had always been of a humble character,
chiefly as sextons. Little trustworthy is known of
any member of the family beyond the fact that they
all, save the poet's father, were of the mechanic class,
and innumerable documents and records have been
overhauled to prove even that much. They had
been born, named, wedded and buried, without
having ever attempted or aspired, as far as can be
learned, to anything higher than the lowly occupations
they followed.

Of the many conflicting details of the poet's im-
mediate ancestors it may now be asserted that the
last member of the family who served the post of
sexton and bore the name of Chatterton was John

19

20 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Chatterton, the poet's great-uncle. He died in the
same year as his nephew, the poet's father, and was
buried in the churchyard of St. Mary Redcliff, where
he had officiated for twenty years. As the par-
ticulars of this man's age and death have been so
variously stated by the biographers, and as he is
erroneously considered to have been the poet's grand-
father, of whom nothing is really known, a copy of
his epitaph is subjoined. From this it is learned
that John Chatterton died in 1752, aged forty-eight

years : —

Near this place
In a cold bed of another's making

Lies John Chatterton.
Who was Death's chamberlain Here

£for twenty years
And after having provided lodgings

iior Various Passing Travellers,
Lay down himself.
A.D. 1752 of his sojourning 48.

When living, John, Pursuant to his trade,
Many Good Beds for weary Pilgrims made ;
May the same kindness now for their Host receive,
Dead John will be among them — by their Leave.

The nephew of this sexton, Thomas Chatterton
senior, born in 1713, was the first member of the
family known to have attained to any higher position
in society than the relative just referred to. By his
abilities he raised himself above the circumscribed
position of his race. He possessed loftier aspirations
and was more talented and better educated than
were his immediate progenitors. An interesting fact
respecting this Thomas Chatterton, which has not

PARENTAGE 21

been previously made known, is that he was educated
at the same public school in which his famous son
afterwards spent nearly eight years of his short life.
This senior Thomas Chatterton, of the parish of
St. Mary Redcliff, was placed upon the foundation
of Colston's Hospital, on January 21, 1722, he being
nearly nine years old. He was nominated by the
executors of the founder, Mr. Colston. The records
contain no notices of his school career, but state
that on leaving the establishment, on September 5,
1729, he was apprenticed to a Captain Ed. Saunders,
evidently the Edmund Saunders described in the
Bristol Poll Books for 1772 and 1734 as a " Free-
holder of the Parish of St. Mary Redclift."

It is said the senior Chatterton's elegant hand-
writing subsequently procured him a situation with
a firm of London solicitors, by whom he was em-
ployed in engrossing deeds, and that afterwards he
became writing-master in a classical school, where
he acquired a knowledge of Latin. He is described
as "Writing Master, St. Mary Redcliff," in a Bristol
Poll Book for 1739, and during that year he was
appointed master of the Pile Street Free School, a
position he held until his death on August 7, 1752.

Being well versed in music the schoolmaster em-
ployed his leisure time in writing out pieces for use
in the Cathedral, where his talents procured him a
lay clerkship. His appointment by the Dean and
Chapter as one of the Chaunters in the Bristol
Cathedral is dated January, 1745. Chatterton was
a composer of music himself, but in a small way, if
the accompanying "catch" for three voices is to

22

THE TRUE CHATTERTON

be regarded as a fair specimen of his capabilities.
It is said to have been composed by him in com-
memoration of certain festivities held periodically in
a Bristol tavern designated " The Pine Apple." This
catch may not fully justify the character given
Chatterton by a contemporary, of " a complete
master of the theory and practice of music," but can
be accepted as a proof that he did possess some
knowledge of his profession. The catch is given so
that its author's musical powers may be gauged by
the reader :

A CATCH FOR THREE VOICES.

The Words and Music by Mr. Chatterton (Father to Thomas Chatterton
the Poet), one of the Choristers of Bristol Cathedral.

|^^F;^g-£=i^-fe.^^i^^JViX^

Since now we are met and re - solved to be jol - ly, and

m

Then pass it a - bout, my brave Boys, nev-er fear; there's

^^

^

^

While Zea- lots and Fools with their Fac-tions do grap-ple, they

i

m

^

drink our good Li - quor to drown Me - Ian - cho - ly,

^

Meat, Drink, and Clothes in good Ale and strong Beer.

^

a

taste not those Joyi that are at the " Pine- ap - pie." *

• The "Plnenipple" was the publle-bouM where the Club met eTei7 week.

PARENTAGE 23

It is said Chatterton wrote verse also, although
nothing more than the words of this catch have been
preserved as evidence of the fact. " The Pine Apple,"
the chaunter is accredited with singing the delights
of, was a tavern kept by a Mr. Golden, a bookbinder
by trade, where a club Chatterton was a member of
was held.

The schoolmaster is stated to have been a great
reader, but as books were not too plentiful in those
days, he was accustomed to borrow them wherever
he could, lending his own in return. Edward
Gardner, son of a member of " The Pine Apple "
Club, recollected that his father and Chatterton senior
frequently lent books to each other, both being fond
of reading. Gardner intimates that the schoolmaster
was somewhat inclined to a belief in magic and was
deeply versed in Cornelius Agrippa's writings. To
these various acquirements may be added an inclina-
tion to antiquarian pursuits. His collection of Roman
coins was well known and included several hundreds
which had been discovered at Kenmoor and other
places in the neighbourhood. In his " History of
Bristol " Barrett states the schoolmaster presented
these coins to Sir J. Smith of Ashton Court, who
appeared somewhat surprised at the able manner in
which their donor described them.

When about thirty-five years of age the school-
master was married to Sarah Young of Stapleton,
a girl, apparently, in the same lowly sphere of life
as her husband. Mrs. Chatterton, or Chadderton,
as it was spelt in some of the official records, was
only about seventeen when she became a wife,

24 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

being less than half her husband's age. The
marriage took place at Chipping Sodbury, a few
miles from Bristol, presumably in 1748, but owing
to the defective state of the register of that period
the date is not certain. There is no trustworthy
evidence to show that the marriage was not a happy
one during the few years it lasted, although the
alleged testimony of a Mrs. Edkins, given in the
discredited pages of an inaccurate book, has been
frequently quoted in recent works to prove the
contrary, (yide Appendix A.)

About a year after their marriage the Chattertons
moved into the schoolhouse in Pile Street, which had
recently been built for the use of the schoolmaster,
at an outlay of ;£i20, by a Mr. Giles Malpas. On
February 14, 1749, a daughter was born in the
new house and was named Mary, and subsequently
a son, named Giles Malpas after the kindly donor of
the schoolhouse, was born there, but only lived for a
few months.

From what has been said about the schoolmaster
of this Bristol Free School, it will be gathered that
he was a man of more than ordinary ability for his
social position and the times he lived in ; but there
was another side to his character. He possessed
eccentricities which, though harmless in themselves,
divided him off from his neighbours, and made him
a mark for their observation. He talked little, was
absent-minded in company, and was given to walking
alone by the riverside, muttering to himself and
gesticulating with his arms and, " like all his family,
he was so proud." With such peculiarities and

PARENTAGE 25

accomplishments in the father it is not very diffi-
cult to divine whence the son, the boy poet, derived
his more marked idiosyncrasies, however abnormal
they may appear. This Thomas Chatterton, the
schoolmaster, died on the 7th of August, 1752, in
the thirty-ninth year of his age.

Many years after the schoolmaster's death, and
when the subject of the Rowley manuscripts was
exciting public attention, his daughter, Mrs. Newton,
writing to Southey, said, " It is unnecessary to inform
you by what means the parchments were in our
possession. My father received them in the year
1750. He discovered by some writings he found
among them that persons of the name of Chadder-
don were sextons of St. Mary Redclift parish 120
years before. His father had affirmed the family
had held that Office, to use his own phrase, ' Time
out of mind.

Although it was not necessary to tell Southey
how the Chattertons had become connected with
the Rowley parchments, it is necessary to explain
the circumstances to the reader. Over the north
porch of St. Mary Redcliff Church is a room known
as the Muniment Room, from the fact of it having
contained several large chests of deeds relating to the
building. One of these chests was the depository of
documents left by William Canynges, a very wealthy
citizen of Bristol, and five times Mayor of that
place during the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward
IV. A sum of money had been left for the pre-
servation and annual opening of " Mr. Canynge's
Cofre," as the largest chest was styled, but in the

26 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

course of centuries this yearly inspection had been
neglected. In 1727 it occurred to the authorities that
valuable documents might be contained in these chests,
therefore, as the keys were all lost, Mr. Canynges's
coffer and the other six chests were forced open and
searched. Such deeds and documents as appeared to
relate to the church were taken away, but all the
remaining parchments, with criminal carelessness,
were left scattered about the chamber floor. These
centuries-old documents, some of which may have been
of considerable historical and topographical interest,
were left to perish in the damp and dirt.

It would seem that no restriction was put upon
visitors helping themselves to these ancient parch-
ments had they cared to do so, but some, to whom
they were pointed out, declined the burden of such
valueless rubbish. One woman admitted that she
had carried away a lapful to use in cleaning her
kitchen utensils, and other persons had taken some
for similar mean purposes. The schoolmaster, Chat-
terton, besides having an uncle sexton and being
personally acquainted with all the officials of the
church, naturally had access to the different parts of
the building. As he could find uses for the parch-
ment he was permitted, or availed himself of the
opportunity, to take away as many of the documents
as he liked, and with the assistance of his schoolboys
he had carried off at one time as much as what was
called a " Maund " basket would hold, and stored
them away in the school cupboard.

From time to time these parchments were used in
the schoolhouse for various purposes. It is related

PARENTAGE 27

that on one occasion, when the vicar of Redcliff made
a present of twenty Bibles to the school, which were
given away to the twenty boys who could read best,
Chatterton, the better to preserve the prizes, cut up
some of the old parchments and covered the volumes
with them. Notwithstanding this destruction, much
interest in these old records is said to have been
taken by the schoolmaster, who traced among them
references to members of his own family in connection
with the place of their deposit, the venerable and
beautiful church of St. Mary Redcliff. Although
Chatterton senior was able to read these ancient docu-
ments, and trace records of his own ancestors in them,
evidently he never met with any writings by Rowley,
or any one else, which, notwithstanding his poetic taste
and antiquarian proclivities, he deemed worth preser-
vation. He regarded these vellum deeds as useful
only for the commonest domestic purposes.

CHAPTER II
CHILDHOOD

HER husband's death left Mrs. Chatterton a
widow of one-and-twenty, with a child of
three years old to support, and the early expectation
of another, as well as the charge of an aged mother-in-
law. Fortunately, her husband's successor in the Free
School, Mr. Edmund Chard, was not a family man,
therefore the young widow was permitted to remain
in the schoolhouse for the time being. The school
faces Pile Street, from which it is divided by a
courtyard ; the schoolmaster's house, at the back of
it, being approached through the school, as well as
by a passage leading through a little garden and
across a small paved yard in the rear. Over the
front door is inscribed, "This house was erected by
Giles Malpas, of St. Thomas Parish, Gent., for the
use of the Master of this School, a.d. 1749." It has
two small rooms on the ground floor, that to the right
having been used as a kitchen, and that on the left as
a sitting-room, and two bedrooms upon the upper
story, that to the left being pointed out as the
room in which the poet was born.

On the 20th of November, 1752, a little more than

CHILDHOOD 29

three months after his father's death, a boy was born
unto Mrs. Chatterton, and in affectionate memory
of the husband who had not lived to behold his child,
she named it Thomas. On the ist of January, 1753,
the boy was baptized at the church of St. Mary
Redcliff, to the enduring fame of which beautiful
edifice he subsequently contributed so greatly by his
writings.

In 1757 Mr. Chard, having retired from the
mastership of the Free School, was succeeded by a
Mr. Love, who being a family man required the use
of the adjoining dwelling, so poor Mrs. Chatterton
had to turn out. The young widow removed to a
house opposite the Upper Gate, Redcliff Hill, and
amongst her belongings took with her such of the
old parchments, of which mention has been made,
as still remained in her possession.

Those persons who could no better comprehend the
sterling qualities of Mrs. Chatterton than they would
the genius of her son, described the widow as
possessing "no shining abilities," yet she had a fair
share of educational qualifications for the times she
lived in — times when duchesses wrote and talked
ungrammatically, and when even professors of learned
societies did not understand their own language. She
was not only a good-hearted woman, with domestic
qualities of a high order, but had a strong love for
her kindred and worked nobly for their welfare. By
her personal labour she maintained herself and her
two children respectably, and for several years
supported her deceased husband's mother ; therefore,
it is not claiming too much to credit her with some

30 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

ability, notwithstanding the opinion of her son's
biographers to the contrary.

When the whole burden of the family fell upon her,
Mrs. Chatterton faced the world bravely. She started
a school for children and took in needlework. She
drew patterns on muslin in indigo, for ladies of the
neighbourhood to work to, and is reported to have
been very clever at this employment. She must have
been not only industrious, but possessed of some
artistic skill. Her pupils spoke well of her, describing
her as " kind and motherly," but as subject to
occasional flashes of passion soon over. The sorely-
tried young widow had much to render her short-
tempered ; yet she not only bore her trials courage-
ously but, as will be seen, manifested good sense in
many ways. A niece spoke of her as " one of the
best of women."

On entering the world Thomas Chatterton was
heavily handicapped for life's race. A fatherless boy,
son of a young, struggling, poverty-bound widow, he
needed exceptional qualities of temperament, or
fortunate opportunities, to carry him through the
world with any degree of success.

Although the boy's earliest days may have been
similar to those of most infants of his lowly position in
life, from what is known of his mother's disposition
he must have been better cared for than were many
children of the poor in those times. Various anec-
dotes are related of his childhood, but as they are
chiefly derived from tainted testimony it is better
to ignore them. The evidence of his sister, who,
being more than three years older than Thomas, was

FILE STREET SCHOOL.
From a pho:oi;rnph by C. S. Wi'.ls.

CHILDHOOD 31

enabled to judge his disposition, as well as assist his
mother to educate him, is the most valuable if not the
only trustworthy information procurable of his most
youthful days. In a letter answering the inquiries of
Sir Herbert Croft, she states, " My brother was dull
at learning, not knowing many letters at four years
old, and always objected to read in a small book."

When five years old the child was sent to the Pile
Street school, where his father had formerly taught,
but the new master, Mr. Stephen Love, who had
succeeded Mr. Chard upon the latter's resignation,
failed to find any capacity for learning in his pupil
and returned him to the mother as a confirmed
dullard. Like many another lad in whom genius
was dormant, his mind could not germinate in the
restricted confines of a child's charity school. The
poor overworked mother had to take the boy's
education in hand herself and taught him the alphabet
from an old folio music-book which had belonged to
his father. Mrs. Chatterton was tearing up the book
for waste-paper when the large illuminated capitals at
the beginning of the verses captured the boy's fancy,
or, according to his mother's suggestive words, " he
fell in love with them."

From the alphabet his mother proceeded to teach
him to read, using for that purpose an old black-letter
Bible, so that his earliest lessons prepared the way for
instilling into his mind a knowledge of mediaeval lore.
Under the care of his mother and sister the lad now
made good progress in his studies, giving himself up
so eagerly to reading as to cause anxiety lest he
should injure himself by it. He would read from

32 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

early morning until bedtime, so continuously that the
fear was no longer that he would become an in-
veterate dunce, but that his health might suffer
through excessive study.

A distinguishing feature of the boy's childhood, as
recorded by his sister, was " a thirst for pre-eminence.
Before he was five years old he would always preside
over his playmates as their master, and they his hired
servants." An anecdote characteristic of this " vault-
ing ambition," as related by the same authority, is to
the effect that when a manufacturer was promising
Mrs. Chatterton's children a present of earthenware,
he asked the boy what device he would like painted
upon his, and the child answered, " Paint me an angel
with wings and a trumpet, to trumpet my name over
the world." Thus early was not only a knowledge of
Fame, but a longing for it, developed in the boy's
mind.

Furthermore, in her most interesting reminiscences
his sister states, " I recollect nothing more remarkable
till he went into the school, which was in his eighth
year ; excepting his promising my mother and me a
deal of finery, when he grew up, as a reward of her
care."

The school thus referred to by the sister was that
known as Colston's Hospital, the " Blue Coat School "
of Bristol.

EDWARD COLSTON'.
From en^ravin^ after portait by J. Rictiard>')

To face p. 33.

CHAPTER III

SCHOOL DAYS

COLSTON'S HOSPITAL, at Bristol, was
founded in 1708 by Edward Colston, one of
England's merchant princes. Having amassed a
large fortune by commerce, Colston spent it magnifi-
cently in providing charitable institutions for his
native land. Amongst other philanthropical schemes
he proposed to establish at Bristol a scholastic resi-
dence for boys, after the model of Christ's Hospital,
London, popularly known as the " Blue Coat School,"
to which place he had received his own education.
Bristol boys to the number of one hundred were to
be maintained and instructed, clothed and fed in style
similar to those of the metropolitan foundation.

Unfortunately, Edward Colston, notwithstanding
his benevolent intentions, was a man of a most rigid
type of creed, and of restricted views as regards
instruction of the masses. Instead of providing for
his " Blue Coat School " the educational advantages
of its London prototype, he bound the management
to supply only instruction of the most elementary
description, and compelled his representatives by
inflexible rules to exclude from the precincts of

3 33

34 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

the school every form of dissent from the Church of
England as by law established. He stipulated that
the secular education of the boys should be restricted
to reading, writing, and arithmetic, and that they
should be trained in the principles of religion as
inculcated by the Church of England Catechism.

As a home for these one hundred scholars Colston
purchased a fine old building on St. Augustine's
Back, Bristol, known as "The Great House,"
erected on a site formerly occupied by a monastery
of Friars Carmelite, and had it suitably equipped
for boarding and educating them. Unlike the
London Blue Coat School, however, Colston appears
to have provided but few advantages for the
studious, evidently not deeming it possible that
children selected from the poorer classes could or,
perhaps, should acquire such positions in society
as would justify a higher degree of education.
Eventually several of them did do well in com-
mercial and other pursuits, when the ground-work
they had obtained at Colston's Hospital stood them
in good stead. No advanced classical or mathe-
matical subjects were to be taught there, and no
generous scholarships were to be provided for them at
the Universities, nor was anything to be done to make
the school a fostering home of talent, ability, or genius.
The teaching was rudimentary, being, as stated,
confined to reading, writing, and arithmetic ; yet
under the guidance of liberal-minded masters some
higher training would appear to have been provided,
judging by the results in the case of some of the boys.

On the recommendation of the Rev. John Gardiner,

SCHOOL DAYS 36

Vicar of Henbury, a nomination to Colston's was
procured for Chatterton by the Rev. Thomas Harris,
master of the Redcliff Grammar School, and on the
3rd of August, 1760, when wanting rather more than
three months to complete his eighth year, the lad
was admitted on the foundation. It has been
frequently stated that Chatterton was admitted as
Thomas " Chadderton," but all the school registers
give the name as now spelt ; whilst his nominator
was a clergyman, as stated above, and not Mr.
Harris, the Mayor of Bristol, as suggested by his
biographer. Professor Wilson.

The lad had been looking forward with joyful
anticipations to school life, deeming he would now
have unstinted opportunities for reading, which
hitherto had been his life's chief occupation, varied
only by rambles in and about St. Mary Redcliff
Church and its precincts. His disappointment was
intense. The rules of the institution were strict
and had to be strictly adhered to. The hours for
schooling were in summer from 7 a.m. till noon
and from i p.m. till 5 p.m., and in winter from 8 a.m.
till noon, and from i p.m. till 4 p.m. The boys
had to be in bed every evening by eight o'clock all
through the year, and were only allowed to be
absent from the school on Saturdays and Saints'
Days, and then only from one or two in the after-
noon till seven or eight in the evening, according
to the season. They were never allowed out on
Sundays, that day being passed in religious exercises,
public and private. No other holidays were allowed.

In accordance with the founder's rules the boys

36 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

were provided with board, residence, and education,
to the limits already specified, and with clothing ;
this last being copied from the Tudor costume worn
by the boys of Christ's Hospital, London. In
addition to the dark-blue gown, yellow stockings,
and leather belt worn by scholars in the metropolitan
institution, each boy wore a metal plate on his breast,
having the founder's crest of a dolphin on it, and
each had his hair cut in imitation of the monkish
tonsure. In addition to education and maintenance,
each boy on leaving the school, at the expiration of
his course, was to be apprenticed or placed in some
respectable trade or occupation, and his premium was
to be paid out of money provided by the founder
for that purpose.

For many boys in poor positions all these rules
and endowments might have been, and were, of great
value, but for lads of any aspiration or ambitition
Colston's could scarcely be deemed a suitable train-
ing-ground ; for one of abnormal temperament like
Chatterton, who could not be bound by any environ-
ment, the place seemed utterly unfit. All his pre-
vious ideas of a continual supply of "learning's
golden gifts " must have been speedily dissipated
at the Hospital. Hitherto he had lived in the un-
restricted freedom of home life, spending every avail-
able moment in reading everything readable he
came across, or roaming in and about the wonders
of St. Mary Redclifif, gazing on its architectural
beauties, or marvelling over the strange embellish-
ments of its monuments and tombs.

For a time everything at the school wore a look

SCHOOL DAYS a?

of novelty, and the unwonted strangeness of his
surroundings would have interest for the precocious
child, but as he became more accustomed to the
place, discovered the restricted nature of his lessons,
and felt the restraint upon his personal liberty, and
the curb upon his words and actions, the change
must have been hard to bear. But Chatterton was
not one to shirk work or neglect opportunities ; he
applied himself diligently to such studies as were
open to him, so that the assistant master was able
to inform his mother that the boy had made rapid
progress in arithmetic, and that he could always be
depended upon for his veracity ; whilst the Head
Master, Mr. Haynes, became his friend and con-
ceived a strong affection for him. It has been
alleged, and the allegation has been repeated by one
biographer after the other, that the Head Master,
a " Mr. Warner," had cause to be dissatisfied with
the boy's conduct, both during his residence at
Colston's and after he had left there, but the story
is the invention of one who had an object in black-
ening Chatterton's character. It has been proved
that there never was a master named "Warner" at
Colston's, and that Mr. William Haynes, appointed
Head Master in 1762, held that position during the
whole time Chatterton was in the school, therefore
the narrative, like so many of the tales told to the
lad's discredit, is entirely fictitious.

On Saturday half-holidays and Saints' Days the
boy was free to visit his much-loved mother and
sister and to discuss with his prematurity of mind
and manner all the events of the day, or, with in-

38 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

creased rather than diminished ardour, to revisit
his favourite St. Mary's and admire again and
again its beauties, pondering over the entombed
worthies there until their names and deeds,
imaginary or otherwise, made them more famihar
and real to him than were the commonplace folks
amidst whom he lived.

Chatterton's schoolmates must have regarded him
as a strange boy, for they found occasion to inform
his mother that he spent all his playtime in reading.
And what strange reading it was for any child save
Chatterton. Soon after his eleventh year he made
a catalogue of the books he had read to the number
of seventy, and it was seen that history and divinity
were the chief subjects of his studies, if studies they
should be styled. It was not that he was restricted
to such a class of works, for he was wont to obtain
books for reading from local circulating libraries,
paying for the loan of them with the allowance his
mother made him for pocket-money, so that he could
procure any works he desired. When Chatterton
was about ten years old, if Mr. Tyson's calculations
be correct, he was confirmed by the Bishop, and
attracted attention by the serious answers and appro-
priate remarks he made upon the occasion. It was
not long after this that he was appointed doorkeeper
in his turn at the school, and during the week of
comparative leisure this gave him he made some
verses on the Lord's Day, and paraphrased the ninth
chapter of Job and some chapters of Isaiah. Evi-
dently these were his first attempts at verse, for his
sister makes this highly suggestive remark in con-

Colston's school.

From watc-r-colour picture of Colston's Schoo!. Bv permission of Dr. Anthony Finn,
Htadniastcr of Colston's Schonl.

To face p. 39.

SCHOOL DAYS 39

nection with them : "He had been gloomy from the
time he began to learn, and we remarked he was
more cheerful after he began to write poetry."
Naturally there is nothing of value in the boyish
lines referred to, they being only the reflection of
the theological phrasings he was having dinned into
his ears daily, but they are useful as evidence of his
early ability to versify, and it is interesting to learn
that the boy thought so well of his verses that he
took some of them to Felix Farley s Journal, where
they appeared on January 8, 1763, when their
author was little over ten years old. It may well
be imagined that he, as also his dear ones at home,
was delio-hted at this earliest acknowledgment of his
budding talent.

Henceforth the boy began to versify continually,
at first on religious themes, but subsequently he
indulged in satirical pieces, specimens of both kinds
appearing in the columns of Felix Farley s Journal.
"A Hymn for Christmas Day" was written in one
of those little pocket-books Chatterton constantly
used for jotting down his verses in. So juvenile a
production as this " Hymn " is cannot be expected to
exhibit any marked originality of thought or treat-
ment, yet it displays a wonderful gift of language for
one so young. Some stanzas may be quoted : —

Almighty Framer of the skies !
O let our pure devotion rise,

Like incense in Thy sight !
Wrapt in impenetrable shade
The texture of our souls was made

Till Thy command gave hght.

40 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

How shall we celebrate the day,
When God appeared in mortal clay,

The mark of worldly scorn ;
When the archangel's heavenly lays
Attempted the Redeemer's praise,

And hailed Salvation's morn !

How shall we celebrate His name,
Who groaned beneath a life of shame.

In all afflictions tried !
The soul is raptured to conceive
A truth, which Being must believe,

The God Eternal died.

My soul, exert thy powers, adore ;
Upon devotion's plumage soar

To celebrate the day :
The God from whom creation sprung
Shall animate my grateful tongue ;

From Him I'll catch the lay !

In the same little pocket-book in which the above
verses appeared are recorded Chatterton's first known
sarcastic lines, called " Sly Dick." As the first of his
efforts in that manner and as the production of a lad,
one might say of a child, of only eleven years old,
the piece deserves preservation. It is also interest-
ing from the fact that in this production the boy is
seen to have already begun to make use of a few
antique and quaint words : —

Sharp was the frost, the wind was high,
And sparkling stars bedecked the sky.
Sly Dick, in arts of cunning skilled.
Whose rapine all his pockets filled,
Had laid him down to take his rest
And soothe with sleep his anxious breast.

SCHOOL DAYS 41

'Twas thus a dark infernal sprite,

A native of the blackest night,

Portending mischief to devise,

Upon Sly Dick he cast his eyes ;

Then straight descends th' infernal sprite

And in his chamber does alight.

Thus spake the sprite : " Hearken, my friend,

And to my counsels now attend.

Within the garret's spacious dome.

There lies a well-stored wealthy room,

Well stored with cloth and stockings too,

Which I suppose will do for you ;

First from the cloth take thou a purse,

For thee it will not be the worse ;

A nobler purse rewards thy pains,

A purse to hold thy filching gains ;

Then, from the stockings, let them reeve,

And not a scrap behind thee leave,

Five bundles for a penny sell.

And pence to thee will come pell-mell."

When in the morn, with thoughts erect.

Sly Dick did on his dream reflect,

" Why faith," thinks he, " 'tis something too,

It might — perhaps — it might — be true,

I'll go and see." Away he hies.

And to the garret quick he flies.

Enters the room, cuts up the clothes.

And after that reeves up the hose :

Then of the cloth he purses made.

Purses to hold his filching trade.

Apparently Sly Dick was not a real personage, but
only the offspring of the child's fantasy.

Another piece written when Chatterton was still
about eleven, published in Farley s Journal for

42 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

January 7, 1764, shows a distinct advance upon the
former productions. " The Churchwarden and the
Apparition ; a Fable," although of no value as a
poem, whatever its writer's age might be, displays
more command of language and style than the
previous compositions. It refers to the actions of a
real person, the " Joe " of the lines having been
identified as Joseph Thomas, the churchwarden of
St. Mary Redcliff This man had become the object
of various sarcastic attacks in the Bristol journals,
in consequence of having been accused, rightly or
wrongly, of having had the graves around St. Mary's
levelled, and the clay carted away for the purposes
of his trade as a brickmaker. The lines by Chat-
terton would seem to imply that this man was also
deemed responsible for the removal from the church-
yard of the ancient cross, described in the fifteenth
century by William of Worcester as a "most beauti-
ful cross of curious workmanship." Doubtless the
lad had heard much from his seniors about Joe's
depredations, and regarded all injury to anything
connected with his beloved building and its surround-
ings not only as sacrilege, but almost as a personal
wrong.

Another attack on this Thomas in Farley s Journal
was a letter, the authorship of which on slender
evidence has been claimed for Chatterton. Mr. J.
Latimer, in his " Annals of Bristol," attributes it to
Thomas Phillips, but gives no reason for so doing.
The signature to this document, if not by the future
author of " The Bristowe Tragedie," was certainly
read, noted, and remembered by him for use when
required. The letter reads : —

SCHOOL DAYS 43

Mr. Printer, — Being old and having enjoyed my place
many a long year, I have buried or rather dug the graves for
one half of our parish ; and could tell, to an inch, where and
how their bodies lie, and are ranged underground ; — and by
this my skill am always consulted by my master, the sexton,
where such and such a family are interred, and have never
failed of giving great satisfaction in the discharge of my
office. But alas ! I am like to be robbed at once, of all my
knowledge, procured at the expense of so many years' close
study and application to business : for you must know, my
Head Master, a great projector, has taken it into his head
to level the churchyard ; and by digging and throwing about
his clay there, and defacing the stones, makes such confusion
among the dead, and will so puzzle me, if he goes on, that
no man living will be able to find where to lay them properly
and then he may dig the graves himself ; for I foresee, I
shall get the ill-will of the parish about it : for even the poor
love to bury with their kindred : and all's but right that they
should. I should be glad, therefore, to know the sense of
the public, whether any body has a just right, or needful call
to dig in the churchyard, besides Fullford, the Gravedigger.

PS. — As I intend dropping the business of grave-digger, now
rendered| so very troublesome, I propose renting my old spot of
ground (the churchyard) when the green turf is all removed,
and ior decency' s sake will prevent the «aAe(i appearance of it, by
planting potatoes, raising some fine beds of onions, &c., as the
mould is fat and good. And I see no reason why I may not get
a profitable job out of the church, as well as my Great Master,
— as I find that's the game now-a-days, tho' decency, convenience,
or the like, be the pretence.

Fullford, the Gravedigger.

When Chatterton was a few months over eleven —
that is to say, on April 14, 1764 — he scribbled down
in his pocket-book some lines he called " Apostate
Will." This apostate was apparently another real
personage, who had incurred the boy's contempt by
using religion as a stepping-stone to promotion in

44 THE TKUE CHATTERTON

worldly affairs. The following representative lines
may be quoted from this juvenile production : —

In days of old, when Wesley's power
Gathered new strength by every hour ;
Apostate Will, just sunk in trade,
Resolved his bargain should be made ;
Then straight to Wesley he repairs,
And puts on grave and solemn airs.

The preacher then instructions gave.
How he in this world should behave.
He hears, assents, and gives a nod,
Says every word's the word of God.
Then lifting his dissembling eyes,
" How blessed is the sect ! " he cries ;
" Nor Bingham, Young, nor Stillingfleet,
Shall make me from this sect retreat."
He then his circumstance declared,
How hardly with him matters fared,
Begged him next morning for to make
A small collection for his sake.
The preacher said, '' Do not repine.
The whole collection shall be thine."

His outward acts were grave and prim.
The Methodist appeared in him.

He was a preacher and what not.
As long as money could be got,
He'd oft profess, with holy fire,
"The labourer's worthy of his hire."

A noble place appeared in view.
Then — to the Methodists, adieu !

Then to the curate straight he ran.
And thus addressed the reverend man :

SCHOOL DAYS 45

" I was a Methodist, 'tis true,
With penitence I turn to you.
O that it were your bounteous will,
That I the vacant place might fill !
With justice I'd myself acquit,
Do everything that's right and fit ! "
The curate straightway gave consent.
To take the place he quickly went.
Accordingly he took the place.
And keeps it with dissembled grace.

Even for a lad little over eleven these lines are
not wonderful as regards workmanship, but for in-
sight into character they are strangely premature,
although the overpowering influence of his Church
of England training will account for the confident
reference to " Bingham, Young, nor Stillingfleet,"
whose works were doubtless amongst those books
of divinity he had studied.

A most interesting question in the life of Chatterton
is what impulse first directed his thoughts towards
the composition of poetry, or, at any rate, impelled
him towards versification. Fortunately for our
legitimate curiosity, the cause is easy to discover.
Already it has been pointed out that the lad was
a favourite of and much liked by the Head Master of
the school, Mr. Haynes, who had been a Colston
boy himself, and it is another point in Chatterton's
favour that he was the intimate associate and friend
of his junior master, Thomas Phillips. He was on
the most affectionate terms with this beloved master,
whose influence on several of the scholars at Colston's,
where Phillips himself had been educated, was very

46 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

powerful. Little is known of Phillips, but that little
serves to make him the most interesting of all
Chatterton's youthful companions and, probably, the
only one of whom more would gladly be learnt.
Many a reader of Chatterton's life will echo the wish
of his first biographer, Dr. Gregory, that a fuller
account of this early friend of the poet were available.
It has been noticed that despite the limited range
of the education afforded him at Colston's, where
Phillips had been admitted on December 14, 1758,
and where he had been apprenticed to the Head
Master, Mr. Haynes, on April 20, 1765, he not only
attained to an assistant mastership in the school, but
acquired a taste for history and poetry, and even
inspired several of the lads in his charge with kindred
inclinations. In such circumstances it is scarcely
far-fetched to believe that Mr. Haynes himself must
have been the primary source of this enthusiasm for
literary attainments amongst the scholars at Colston's.
Mrs. Newton, in her reminiscences of her brother,
is careful to record that his " intimates in the schools
were but few and they solid lads," but she does not
refer to his friendship with Phillips, although Chatter-
ton himself has left in elegiac lines an expression
of his deep admiration and affection for this tutor and
friend. It has been suggested, with much probability,
although there is no evidence adducible on the point,
that this assistant master, Phillips, was related to the
poet, who had an uncle and cousins of that surname,
one of whom, Stephen Chatterton Phillips, was a
scholar at Colston's Hospital from August, 1794, to
October, 1800.

SCHOOL DAYS 47

Phillips was regarded by the elder boys at Colston's
with much admiration, not only for his personal
kindness, but as author of verses which had appeared
in Farley s Journal and other local publications.
His example aroused the lads' emulation ; several of
whom attempted to follow in his footsteps and make
an appearance in print. Some of them, such as
Cary, Fowler, and others, are known to have so far
succeeded as to have acquired a certain amount of
local notoriety in literature, but Chatterton appears
to have kept aloof from the petty versifyings of this
band of poetlings, and to have dwelt apart within
his own ideal world. With his habitual sensitiveness
he seems to have maintained such silence about his
own doings in authorcraft, that James Thistlethwaite,
an intimate companion of his during three or more
of the years he passed at Colston's, would not believe,
all positive evidence notwithstanding, that the poet
had "attempted the composition of a single couplet
during " that period ; that is to say, when other
pupils of Phillips were priding themselves on the
occasional appearance of their lines in " the Poets'
Column " of local journals.

The connection of Phillips with Colston's is sup-
posed to have ceased soon after Chatterton left the
school, because he is discovered at the time of his
decease, which must have been by or before October,
1769, to have been residing at Fairford, Gloucester-
shire, whence both he and Mr. Haynes came. As
there is an interval of two years between the dates
of Chatterton leaving the school and the death of
Phillips, the suggestion seems of little value.

48 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

It will be noticed in the course of this narrative
that although most of Chatterton's companions con-
sidered him, who was everything to everybody, a
pleasant acquaintance, none of them ever understood
him, unless Phillips may be excepted, and as
Professor Wilson has pointed out, "the letters of
Thistlethwaite, Gary, Smith, and Rudhall and the
narratives of Catcott, Barrett, and other seniors alike
betray the feeling that the boy was ' no such great
things after all.' But when learned antiquarians,
deans, baronets, and professors began to ply them
with inquiries about their past intercourse with him,
their self-importance was gratified and informants
became minute and precise about facts and dates,
which have since been too implicitly accepted as
authentic." It is, indeed, far more than Professor
Wilson comprehended, the acceptance of these un-
corroborated statements without due scrutiny, made
by companions and pretended associates of Chatterton,
that has hitherto mystified and confused all deeds
and dates connected with the boy-poet's career.
None has suffered more from these misstatements
than Wilson himself

In her reminiscences of her brother Mrs. Newton
makes special reference to another schoolfellow of
Chatterton who, if he did not arouse such feelings
of respect and admiration in the boy's heart and
mind as did the eulogised Phillips, was at any rate
a close and intimate friend of the young poet and
knew much about his poetic productions. Baker was
one of Chatterton's dearest associates, and familiar
with the secrets of his heart and brain, but was not

SCHOOL DAYS 49

the friend referred to. It has been averred and
adopted as fact in the biographies of Chatterton that
Baker was his bedfellow at Colston's, where the lads
slept two in a bed, but as research proves that there
was no boy named Baker at the school during the
period the poet was there, the statement is incorrect.
Apparently, Chatterton's bedfellow was Thomas
Cary, called his "second self," who entered the
school on March ii, 1760, and did not leave it until
September 30, 1766, so that the two boys were there
together nearly the whole of their schooltime. Boys
who were in such close proximity, night after night
for years, could not but sympathise with one another
in some measure. Whether it was due to chance
or, as is more probable, to their own desire, that boys
became such close companions, they could scarcely
avoid sharing each other's joys, sorrows, and aspi-
rations. Chatterton's association with Cary must
have been fortunate, for the two were attached to
each other, had somewhat kindred studies, and after
they left Colston's school remained upon affectionate
terms. It would have been a great hardship and
almost past endurance for lads of opposite tempera-
ments or, what was worse, of unfriendly associations
to be obliged to spend so many hours of their time
in bed together. Summer and winter, throughout
the year, without distinction as to age, boys at
Colston's were compelled by the rules of the place
to retire to rest at eight o'clock, thus having to
spend nearly half their time in bed! It would be
impossible to sleep through all those hours, and there-
fore a very great part of a boy's happiness in the

4

60 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

school must have depended upon his feelings towards
his companion. In that one respect Chatterton seems
to have been fortunate, and, coupled with other cir-
cumstances, his school life does not appear to have
been unhappy.

Whilst at Colston's Chatterton does not seem to
have had difficulty in obtaining books for persual.
He was able to procure the works of the chief poets,
including Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton, for
reading and study. He borrowed books from various
persons, particularly from a Mr. Green, who is said
to have had the largest collection of any bookseller
in Bristol. He obtained from him Speght's edition of
Chaucer, and it can be well imagined how he lingered
lovingly over its enchanted pages, enthusiastically
imbibing the spirit of his ancient predecessor's
mediaeval lore. It is recorded upon the somewhat
doubtful authority of W. H. Ireland, forger of the
pseudo-Shakespearean MSS., that one of these
Bristol booksellers, knowing Chatterton's family and,
apparently, struck by his love of study, would allow
him to borrow books, and make transcripts from them,
on credit, when his cash was low or exhausted.

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CHAPTER IV

APPRENTICESHIP

CHATTERTON left Colston's Hospital, where
the previous seven years of his life had been
spent, on July i, 1767, and on the same day entered
the office of Mr. John Lambert, scrivener. He was
apprenticed to this man by the school authorities, who
paid a fee of ten pounds for him out of the fund left
by Mr. Colston for the purpose of apprenticing
scholars of the institution upon completing their term
there. The Indenture, now preserved in the Bristol
Museum, witnesseth that

Thomas Chatterton, son of Thomas Chatterton, late of the
City of Bristol, Schoolmaster, deceased, — hath put himself
Apprentice to John Lambert, of the same city, gentleman, to
be educated a Scrivener, and doth covenant with him to dwell,
and him after the Manner of an Apprentice, as well as the Art
aforesaid, as in all other Arts and lawful Commands, with him
faithfully to serve from the Day of the Date of these Presents,
for and during the Term of Seven Years next ensuing : During
which said Term, the said Apprentice, the Secrets of his said
Master shall keep, his Goods he shall not inordinately v?aste.
Taverns he shall not frequent, at Dice he shall not play, . . .
Matrimony he shall not contract, or damage to his said Master
within the said Term he shall not do ; but well and faithfully
shall behave himself in all things, as well in Words as Deeds, as a
good and faithful Apprentice, according to the Use and Custom

51

62 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

of Bristol, for the whole Term aforesaid, and the said Master
his said Apprentice as well in the Art aforesaid as in all other
Arts which he now useth or hereafter shall use, shall dihgently
teach, instruct and inform, or cause to be informed by others,
and shall find him good and sufficient Meat, Drink, Linen,
Woollen, Lodging and all other Necessaries, Washing and
Mending excepted, during the said Term. And at the end of
the said Term shall pay to the said Apprentice Four ShiUings
and Sixpence towards his Freedom of Bristol with Two suits of
Apparel, one for Holydays and the other in lieu of his Salary.

The Mayor and Sheriffs of the City were witnesses
to this agreement, to which the Town Clerk appended
his signature, as did also Chatterton, in a clear and
already well formed, distinctiv^e handwriting.

A memorandum was appended to this Indenture
setting forth that "It was agreed by and between the
within parties that the Friends or Relatives of the
within Apprentice shall at their own Expense find and
provide for him Washing and Mending during the
within Term anything within contained or Custom of
Bristol to the contrary notwithstanding," and this
proviso Mrs. Chatterton signed in her usual remark-
ably firm and clear handwriting, a writing which much
resembled her son's.

The lad must have srained a orood character for
behaviour and education at Colston's, otherwise it
would scarcely have been possible for him to have
been placed in a situation, apparently so desirable for
a poor charity boy, as was the scrivener's, and the
school trustees must have satisfied themselves that
Mr. John Lambert w^as a member of the Church of
England and in all worldly respects a suitable person-
age for the management of their scholar, otherwise

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APPRENTICESHIP 53

they would have failed to comply with the terms of
Colston's Trust, which, dating from the year 17 17,
enjoined them to " take effectual care as far as in them
lieth, that the boys be bred up in the doctrine of our
present established Church of England, and that none
of them be afterwards placed out as apprentices to
any men that be dissenters from the said Communion,
as they will be answerable for a breach of their trust
at the last and great tribunal before which we must
all appear."

At that time Lambert's office was in Small Street,
some distance from his private residence, where his
new apprentice had to sleep and return to daily for
his mid-day meal. He had to be at the office by
eight in the morning, go back to Lambert's for dinner,
and then return to the office till eight in the evening,
when he was free for two hours. As soon as he left
the office Chatterton would hurry home to his mother
and stay with her during the evening, leaving in time
to be back at his master's by ten. Despite the dislike
Lambert grew to entertain for his apprentice, he was
obliged to acknowledge that the lad was invariably
regular and punctual in his attendance, and only once
during the whole period of his servitude exceeded
his stipulated time for returning, and then he had
obtained special permission to spend the evening,
it being Christmas, with his mother, who was enter-
taining some friends.

During the day Chatterton's official duties were
slight, consisting chiefly of copying precedents. That
he did not neglect this work several hundred of closely
written folio pages in his handwriting are still pre-

64 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

served as evidence. Lambert was young, being only
twenty-eight at this time, a wealthy man, not over-
burdened with business, and in taking an apprentice,
in the way he did, saved himself the expense of a
clerk. According to Mrs. Newton's account, Chatter-
ton had little of his master's work to do, " sometimes
not two hours in a day," so that he had plenty of
leisure for the pursuit of a more congenial occupation.
True there were no Saturdays and Saints' Days now
for the lad : no holidays of any description, save the
two hours in the evening between office work and
the master's house, but into those two hours much
happiness might be compressed. The lad was
devotedly attached to his relatives, and his sister
states, " We saw him most evenings before nine,
and he would in general stay to the limits of his
time. He was seldom two evenings together without
seeing us."

The friends of Lambert declare that he was a
good-natured man, who was greatly annoyed about
Chatterton, whom he regarded as a sullen-tempered
lad. He honestly confessed that he never knew his
apprentice to keep bad company, as others had
suggested he did, and he seems never even to have
suspected him of any inclination that way. Probably
the well-to-do solicitor was too interested in his own
well-being, and too confident in the respectability of
every one engaged in his employ, to consider any
such dereliction possible in any member of his house-
hold. To be certain that his apprentice did not
desert his post during office hours the footman and
other servants were often sent round to inspect, and

APPRENTICESHIP 65

they had always to report that they found the lad
there and hard at work. Naturally, neither the foot-
man nor the other servants were judges of the work
going on and would not know whether Chatterton was
writing verse or occupied with usual office routine.

The poet was greatly troubled at having to take
his meals with the servants, who probably did not
appreciate his company any more than he did theirs,
and, still worse infliction for the poet, he had to sleep
with the footboy. Not only would the proud spirit of
his race blaze up at these seeming indignities, but
the presence of the footboy in his bedchamber must
have been a serious inconvenience to one who had
reached a climax in his career when solitude was an
essential factor in his poetic plans. So full of irre-
pressible energy and indefatigable zeal was Chatterton
now that the many hours he had at the office for
carrying on his poetic labours did not suffice for his
requirements, and he is stated by his sister to have
frequently sat up the whole night writing, especially
towards the full of the moon, when he believed he
could compose better. These nocturnal labours
appear to have been carried on till the close of his
short life, judging by the statements of those he had
to associate with at bedtime. It is scarcely to be
wondered at that with the irritating espionage in
the daytime and unpleasant sleeping arrangements ;
the undesirable companions at meal time ; want of
holidays and of salary, Lambert found his apprentice
of a "sullen and gloomy temper, which particularly
displayed itself among the servants." In after times
the scrivener honestly gave the lad a good character,

56 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

and Chatterton, who owned that as an apprentice
none had greater Hberties than he had, forbore
satirising his employer when nearly everybody else
he associated with came under his flagellatory pen.

Not long after Chatterton entered Lambert's
service, the scrivener removed his office to 2)7'
Corn Street, just opposite the Bristol Exchange. To
some extent this removal must have been agreeable
for the too much isolated lad, as it brought him into
contact with several young fellows of about his own
age. Some of these lads were apprentices in or near
the building he was now working in ; with one or two
of them he was already acquainted, and with others
he speedily got on friendly terms. Occasionally these
young fellows held a symposium in Lambert's office,
when they discussed their own and other folks' literary
labours and various other matters usually interesting
to lads. What they thought and had to say about
Chatterton will appear later on.

Reference has already been made to the poet's
intimacy with Baker, who, having left school, went to
the United States of America, and ultimately settled
at Charleston, South Carolina. Whilst in Corn Street
Chatterton maintained a correspondence with his
friend, and in the course of it transmitted to him
several love lyrics and other verses, most of them
being for Baker to send to Bristol, to his sweetheart,
Miss Eleanor Hoyland, as if they had been written
by himself Most of this correspondence has dis-
appeared, but the poems, or half a dozen of them,
having apparently been sent to Bristol, have been
recovered and published.

APPRENTICESHIP 57

One of Chatterton's letters to Baker, dated 6th of
March, 1768, having got into the possession of Mr.
George Catcott, escaped destruction, and is interesting
as affording some insight into the life of the youthful
poet at that period. The letter runs thus : —

Dear Friend,— I must now close my poetical labours, my
Master being returned from London. You write in a very
entertaining style ; though I am afraid mine will be the contrary.
Your celebrated Miss Rumsey is going to be married to Mr.
Fowler, as he himself informs me. Pretty children ! about to
enter into the comfortable yoke of matrimony to be at their
own liberty: just apropos to the old saw — but "out of the
frying-pan into the fire ! " For a lover, heavens mend him ; but
for a husband ! O excellent ! What a female Machiavel this
Miss Rumsey is ! a very good Mistress of Nature, to discover a
demon in the habit of a parson ; to find a spirit so well adapted
to the humour of an English wife, that is, one who takes off his
hat to every person he chances to meet to show his staring
horns, and very politely stands at the door of his wife's chamber
whilst her gallant is entertaining her within. O mirabili ! what
will human nature degenerate into ? Fowler aforesaid, declares
he makes a scruple of conscience of being too free with Miss
Rumsey before marriage. There's a gallant for you ! Why a
girl with anything of the woman would despise him for it. But
no more of him.

I am glad you approve of the ladies in Charles-Town ; and
am obliged to you for the compliment of including me in your
happiness. My friendship is firm as the white rock when the
black waves soar around it and the waters burst on its hoary
top, when the driving wind ploughs the sable sea, and the rising
waves aspire to the clouds [teeming] with the ratthng hail ! So
much for heroics ! To speak in plain English ; I am, and ever
will be, your unalterable friend.

I did not give your love to Miss Rumsey, having not yet seen
her in private, and in public she will not speak to me, because of
her great love to Fowler ; and on another occasion ... I have
been violently in love these three-and-twenty times since your
departure ; and not a few times came off victorious. I am

58 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

obliged to you for your curiosity, and esteem it very much, not
on account of itself, but as coming from you. The poems, &c.,
on Miss Hoyland, I wish better for her sake and yours. The
Tournament I have only one canto of, which I send herewith ;
the remainder is entirely lost. I am with the greatest regret
going to subscribe myself, Your faithful and constant Friend,
'till death do us part, Thomas Chatterton.

On the same day, apparently to go with the
above letter, Chatterton wrote the following : —

Dear Friend,

I have received both your favours. The Muse
alone must tell my joy : —

O'erwhelmed with pleasure at the joyful news,
I strung the chorded shell, and woke the Muse.
Begin, O Servant of the Sacred Nine !
And echo joy through every nervous line ;
Bring down th' ethereal choir to aid the song ;
Let boundless raptures smoothly glide along.
My Baker's well ! Oh words of sweet delight !
Now ! now ! my Muse, soar up th' Olympic height.
What wondrous numbers can the Goddess find
To paint th' ecstatic raptures of my mind ?
I leave it to a Goddess more divine,
The beauteous Hoyland shall employ my line.

And on several pieces of smooth but artificial
verse " the beauteous Hoyland " did employ her
lover's friend. There is nothing very remarkable
about these proxy love poems. Their author, writing
as Baker, tells that

The bubbling fountains lose the power to please,

The rocky cataracts, the shady trees,

The juicy fruitage of enchanting hue

Whose luscious virtues England never knew, —

APPRENTICESHIP 59

and so on for several lines, which only go to prove
that the writer was ignorant of the natural beauties of
the land he assumed to sing. The first couplet of
one of these poems is of more than ordinary interest
as seeming to show the author was acquainted with
Marlowe's famous ballad of " Live with me and be
my Love." It runs —

Since short the busy scene of life will prove,
Let us, my Hoyland, learn to Uve and love.

Elsewhere he displays a knowledge of the same
author's writings.

It is very disappointing that there is so little to be
gleaned about this " Dear Friend," with whose family
the poet seems to have been well acquainted, from the
way he refers to Mrs. Baker and Miss Baker in his
letters from London. There is no doubt that if more
of the correspondence between these two chums
could be found, some very interesting sidelights upon
Chatterton's inner life at that period of his career
would be revealed. In a manuscript by the boy-poet,
now in the British Museum, are some disconnected
pieces, styled "Journal Sixth." One portion, ad-
dressed to this friend, begins : —

Say, Baker, if experience hoar
Has yet unbolted wisdom's door.
What is this phantom of the mind,
This love when sifted and retined ?
When the poor lover, fancy frighted,
Is with shadowy joys delighted ?
A frown shall throw him in despair
A smile shall brighten up his air.

60 THE TRUE CHATTEItTON

Jealous without a seeming cause,

From flatt'ring smiles he misery draws ;

Again, without his reason's aid,

His bosom's still, the devil's laid.

If this is love my callous heart

Has never felt the rankling dart.

Such tremors never cowered me,
I'm flattering, impudent and free,
Unmoved by frowns and lowering eyes,
'Tis smiles I only ask and prize ;
And when the smile is freely given,
You're in the highway road to heaven.
These coward lovers seldom find
That whining makes the ladies kind.
They laugh at silly silent swains
Who're fit for nothing but their chains.
'Tis an effrontery, and tongue
On very oily hinges hung
Must win the blooming, melting fair
And show the joys of heaven here.

In a similar strain the poet rambles along for
upwards of two hundred lines. Whether he intended
the "Journal," or any portion of it, to go to Baker is
idle to inquire ; probably the lines were scribbled
off during a leisure hour, when there was nothing
else to distract his attention, and with no thought of
them ever being seen by any one but their author.
Baker appears to have revisited Bristol during Chat-
terton's lifetime, and was in that city about a month
before the poet departed for London. He was
evidently "the particular acquaintance of Chatterton"
who lent the various poems by him to Edward
Gardner, which were published at Bristol in 1798
in Gardner's Miscellanies. Baker, soon after lend-

APPRENTICESHIP 61

ing the poems, which were never returned to him,
left Bristol finally for North America.

In a letter published in the Monthly Mirror for
1809 another glimpse apparently of Cary, the poet's
schoolfellow, appears to be gained. The corre-
spondent of that publication tells how he met a
gentleman, seemingly Cary, in North America, who
told him he was Chatterton's schoolfellow at
Colston's. He remarked what an extraordinary boy
the poet was, and added, " we three," Chatterton,
himself, and a third boy, who may have been Phillips,
but whose name is not given, "carried all before us."
This gentleman, says the correspondent, was a
merchant, but with " little appearance of a trafficker:
he seemed more in his manner and conversation an
elegant French wit. Yet I was told," continues the
writer, "he understood Commerce well. He re-
marked Chatterton, himself, and their friend were all
poor boys of Bristol."

Notwithstanding all that has been written about
Lambert and his office, it must be confessed that the
place had many advantages for the poet. His master
was often absent for long periods of time, and
during these intervals Chatterton had plenty of leisure
for his own work. The situation might have become
bearable if he had not been obliged to consort with
the servants, including the footman who looked in
upon him occasionally to remind him that his time
and labour belonged to his master, and the footboy
who shared the bedroom with him. There was no
real privacy for him day or night, and no salary
for him whether he worked or not. Of course,

62 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Lambert knew nothing of the lad's lofty imaginings
and of his communings with the great ones of yore ;
that his mind was enshrined in that of a priestly
poet's of the Middle Ages, or that as Redcliffe de
Chatterton, or some equally mythical ancestor, he
was mentally performing deeds of knightly valour,
or roaming through realms of a faeryland of his
own creation. The scrivener could only regard him
as one of Colston's charity taught and bred boys,
who ranked somewhat less in his mind than his
domestics, as they received wages and could leave
his service if they wished to.

As might be expected, Lambert's office library was
not large, and with some noteworthy exceptions it
contained little save legal works. The exceptions
were an ancient copy of Camden's " Britannia," a
literary treasure which supplied Chatterton with much
of the information he was in search of ; Baker's
"Chronicles," and the " Charters of Bristol." By the
aid of these books, and some other similarly suitable
volumes, such as Speght's " Chaucer," Kersey and
Bailey's Dictionaries, Percy's " Relics," and a few
more, which he could borrow from the lending libraries,
his receptive mind was enabled to gather and assimilate
a goodly amount of antique lore. By means of this
equipment and a close study of some of Shakespeare's
works Chatterton gradually fabricated a mass of
pseudo-ancient literature which made his name famous
wherever English poetry is read.

CHAPTER V
THE ROWLEY ROMANCE

REFERENCES have already been made to the
Rowley Manuscripts in these pages, and it is
necessary that a full account of these wonderful
writings should now be given. The history of this
supposed hoard of unknown early English literature
is one of the most romantic in the records of letters.
The papers constituting the so-called " Rowley
MSS." were reported to be a portion of the docu-
ments discovered in the chests in the Muniment
Room over the north porch of Redcliff Church,
and brought away from time to time by Thomas
Chatterton senior, the Pile Street schoolmaster.

It has been told that when Mrs. Chatterton removed
from the schoolhouse to another residence, she took
away with her two boxes, containing the remainder
of the parchments which had been obtained from the
St. Mary Redcliff Muniment Room. According to
the story told by Dean Milles, Mrs. Chatterton
reported that these parchments had remained un-
disturbed until her son discovered them, some time
after he had been at Lambert's. This assertion of
the poet's mother, as to the period of Chatterton's
finding the parchments, has been fully confirmed by

63

64 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

the evidence of William Smith, George Catcott, and
other contemporary witnesses.

The story of the lad's discovery of these old parch-
ments was first related in Bryant's " Observations "
from the statement furnished by William Smith,
Chatterton's " bosom friend." According to this
narrative, amongst other uses to which Mrs. Chatter-
ton had turned some of the old parchments was
the making them into threadpapers. One day, when
her son was home from Lambert's for his usual
two hours' holiday, his attention was drawn to
one of these threadpapers. Familiarised in his
new occupation with the sight of parchment deeds,
he took up the threadpaper and examining it found
that not only was the writing very old, but the
characters were very different from modern letters.
" Being naturally of an inquisitive and curious turn,"
as William Smith remarks, he was greatly struck
by these circumstances and closely questioned his
mother as to how she came by the parchments. In
explanation she told him the whole story of the
Redcliff Church documents.

After examining some more of the deeds, the
lad told his mother " that he had found a treasure
and was so glad nothing could be like it." In these
old neglected parchments Chatterton had discovered
much useful material for his projected work ; for the
scheme he had, doubtless, already planned. Here
was what he required in antique spelling, in phrase-
ology and general information, for the construction
of the visionary world he had conjured up in his mind
and now sought to realise in words.

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 65

He took possession of all the parchments he could
find about the house and was even successful in dis-
covering a few more which had been left to perish
in St. Mary Redcliff Muniment Room. His mother
said " he was perpetually rummaging and ransacking
every corner in the house for more parchments, and
from time to time carried away those he had already
found by pocketsful. One day, happening to see
Clarke's ' History of the Bible ' covered with one
of these parchments, he swore a great oath and
stripping the book, put the cover into his pocket,
and carried it away."

Apparently these parchments were merely accounts
connected with the Church of St. Mary Redcliff, for
repairs and maintenance of the building and payment
of salaries of officials belonging to the edifice. The
lad must have found it no easy task to decipher the
quaint and obsolete language in which these accounts
and deeds were written : doubtless, in some cases
they were in mediaeval Latin, not too pure, and
complicated by many curious contractions and techni-
cal abbreviations of contemporary usage. An account
has been given in the first chapter of how the
manuscripts had been brought to light by the opening
of Mr. Canynges's coffer and the other ancient chests
in the Muniment Room, and it is self-evident that
none of them could have inspired Chatterton with the
conception of his Rowley myth, or have furnished
him with any portion of the contents of his Rowley
productions, although they may have suggested to
him the way in which to construct and carry out his
scheme in connection with the romance.

5

66 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

When the lad had secured these parchments and
carried them to his master's office, he set to work to
copy their antique caUigraphy, writing the figures over
and over and over again with great patience. When
he had attained some Httle skill in this work, and it
must be conceded that he never did really acquire
any very great facility in the process, he proceeded
to study the orthography and phraseology of the
deeds, and was not so secretive about it but that
some of his labour in that direction has survived for
the inspection of posterity. After the poet's death
the ecclesiastical authorities demanded the restitution
of all the documents which had been taken from St.
Mary's Church. Mrs. Chatterton handed over to
them everything she could find, and amongst the
articles which the poor frightened woman gave up was
an old account book that had been in the possession
of the Chatterton family for many years. In this old
book, now retained by the authorities of Redcliff
Church, are to be seen not only Chatterton's signature,
but various imitations by him in red ink of old
writings, together with copies of old music, old letters
of the alphabet, and certain Latin words, written over
many times, as if he were determined to acquire a
thorough knowledge of them.' The boy's persever-
ance in his scheme is well exemplified by this most
interesting and illuminating relic. As George Pryce,
in his " Memorials of the Canynges' Family," points
out, it gives satisfactory evidence of the means by
which " Chatterton was enabled to manufacture an

' The facsimile of a page of this book,"^given opposite, will
illustrate Chatterton's method.

T r

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FACSIMILE OF ATTEMI'lN BY CIIATTERTON TO IMITATE HANrUVRITTNG OF
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

NORTH rORCH, ...^.. / CHURCH.

From J. Britton's " History of RcdcliH Church."

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 67

alphabet after the fashion of the times in which
Rowley, the monk of his own creation, is said to have
written the manuscripts which bear his name." The
discovery of this book alone is sufficient to convince
any person needing convincing how the Rowley
Manuscripts were concocted, as far as the mechanical
work was concerned.

The poet's sister, in a letter to Sir Herbert Croft,
refers to certain books she had sent to her brother,
at his request, when in London, and amongst them
she says were many in languages and in hands {i.e.,
types) she could not understand. It is most probable
that in some of these books, which she says were
numerous, were specimens of antique alphabets and
copies of old-time correspondence, similar to those in
the book above referred to.

The Rowley romance must have grown into being
gradually, evolved during the lad's wanderings and
musings in old Redcliff Church and its precincts.
Out of the all-potent influence which that noble
edifice, that stone epic of mediaeval times, had upon
the lad's susceptible mind grew and crystallised into
words a series of representative poems on an ideal
William Canynges and his circle. The mythology
grew into existence by degrees, piece by piece, poem
by poem, even as the church, which to the boy
was a visible embodiment and framework of it, had
grown gradually into being. The grandeur of the
exterior and the mystery and marvels of the interior
of the glorious edifice had grown upon the lad's
expanding mind and had been incorporated with his
thoughts and day dreams until he had peopled the

68 THE TRLTE CHATTERTON

stone faen-land with such creations of the past that
ultimately he became so familiar with these embodi-
ments of his fancy, that they were more real to him
and he was better acquainted with them than with
the modem people untoward fate had brought him
into contact with. Inspired bv these stone memorials
ot his heroes, and their quaint, archaic inscriptions,
he conjured up and invested with being the various
members of the Rowley circle. Of this group the
chief was William Canynges junior, Chatterton's ideal
personage, a knight, as created by the boy poet, satis
peitr et sa»s reproclie. In this wearer of all goodness
and greatness the lad seemed to believe, as he has
even made many other people do, and to deem
him to have been the veritable rebuilder and donor
of St. :Mar}- Redcliff Church.

As described by Chatterton, William Canynges was
the Maecenas of his aa:e ; as wise as he was wealthv,
and as generous as he was just. He was, according
to his minstrel, as free-handed as he was liberal-
minded, being in these respects unlike his mythical
brother Robert, who more resembled their father,
a man who loved his money-bags dearer than his
fellow-men. Father and elder brother dying, William
Canynges became sole heritor of their enormous
possessions. The enriched man at once bethought
him of Thomas Rowley, his old schoolfellow and
friend at the Carmelite Prior}-, on the site of which
Colston's school was built, and in whose personality
it is not difficult to trace the prototype of Chatterton
himself. A modern Canvnges has vet to be found.

When Rowley, who had just taken Holy Orders,

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 6^'

went to thank his wealthy schoolfellow for an act
of thoughtful kindness, and to tender him his services,
Canynges, according to the Rowley tale, said to the
new priest, " I have a crotchett in my brayne that
will need your aide." "If you command me I will
go to Roome for you," responded Rowley. " Not
so farr distant," said Canynges ; " I ken you for a
mickle learned priest ; if you will leave the parysh of
Our Ladie, and travel for mee, it shall be mickle to
your profits." What Rowley was to do was to visit
the abbeys and priories, and gather up all the ancient
drawings of any value, at any cost. Rowley con-
sented to go, and, according to the lad's story, first
visited the Minster of Our Ladie and Sainte Good-
Wyne, where he obtained a drawing of a steeple,
" contryvd for the belles when runge to swaie out
of the syde into the ay re."

/ Henceforth, liberally supported by his Bristol
patron, Rowley devoted himself to going from
place to place, collecting curiosities of all kinds, as
set forth in these quaint manuscripts — manuscripts
which no one but Chatterton ever found a trace of,
despite the most persevering research of numerous/
antiquarians.

All through these mysterious parchments, only a
very few of them ever seen by any one but Chatterton,
whose transcripts are the only evidence of their
existence, the devoted Rowley and his noble friend
and generous patron, Canynges, are seen as the
nucleus of an association of learned priests and
literary gentlemen. Canynges, the five times mayor
of Bristol, as imagined and depicted by Chatterton,

70 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

is the impersonation of all that is best in humanity ;
the founder of useful edifices ; the defender of the
oppressed, the friendless, and the unfortunate, as
well as the host and almost regal associate of princes.
He is seen as a poet and the patron of poets ; an
artist and a man of all-round talent and taste. He
is endowed with the most liberal views, and gathers
round him a band of literary men and poets, as
learned and talented as ever any Italian duke or
French king attracted to his court in the palmiest
days of the Renaissance. Next to Canynges in
importance in the group is Thomas Rowley, author
of most of the manuscripts. Other poets, whose
metrical productions all have a marked family like-
ness, are John Carpenter, Bishop of Worcester, who
assists his wealthy associate to found Westbury
Abbey ; Sir Tybbot or Theobald Gorges, member
of an ancient family having an ancestral seat at
Wraxhill, near Tonstel. This illustrious knight
appears in various parts of the Rowley MSS. as
a poet and even as an amateur actor in the drama
of " ^lla." There was really a contemporary of
Canynges named Sir Theobald Gorges who is
mentioned in Canynges's will, as having had a loan
from him of one hundred and sixty pounds, a very
large sum in those days, on the security of certain
jewels. Another member of the group, according to
Chatterton, was John Iscamme, Canon of St.
Augustine's, Bristol, and author of the dramatic
poem, " The Merrie Tricks of Lamyngestowne." He
also was one of the troupe ol amateurs who played in
the tragedies of " yElla " and "Goddwyn," at the

THE ROWLEY EOMANCE 71

Rudde House, before Mayor Canynges and his guests.
Iscamme is named as joint author with Rowley of
" The Parliament of Sprites," played by the Carmelite
Friars before Canynges and Bishop Carpenter at the
dedication of the Church of Our Ladie of Redcliffe.

Other members of the Rowley band were Raufe
Chedder, chapman, author of a rhyming chronicle
of Bristol, and Abbott John, of St. Augustin's Minster,
now Bristol Cathedral, not only "the first English
painter in oils," but also " the greatest poet of the
age in which he lived," and who "understood the
learned languages." John Lydgate, likewise a real
personage, is introduced, together with other poets,
as well as kings, nobles, knights, aldermen, citizens,
and peasants, some having real names, but all the
living, bustling, gallant throng indebted to the
scrivener's inspired apprentice for the words and
deeds assigned them. A notable group of real,
animated human beings, every member of which
possesses a separate, strongly marked individuality.
It seems heartless to destroy this elaborate drama,
and to show that William Canynges, however acute
a merchant he may have been, and however skilful
as mayor, politician, and courtier he was, was by no
means the ideal noble man the young poet imagined
him to be, any more than the other persons of his
drama, even those who were historic realities, did
the deeds, or said the words, he imputed to them.
For Chatterton they were all veritable living human
beings, more real and substantial for the time at least
than were the members of the commonplace herd
he had to mingle with.

72 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

The evolution of the Rowley romance was the
most fruitful epoch of the lad's life. At this time
his dominating thought and mentality were expended
upon the puppets of this mediaeval myth : were
devoted to the romantic kingdom over which he
reigned as sole and undisputed creator and monarch.
All his ideas and aspirations were subordinated to
the thoughts and actions of the noble-minded, un-
selfish characters who moved within the world he
had conjured up, and who represented all the
generous aims and aspirations of their youthful
delineator. But his own personality was gradually
becoming distorted and warped by the selfish nature
of the self-seekinsf beinsfs he came dailv into contact
with. For most of his elderly associates he displayed
nothing but sarcasm and contempt, although he still
loved strongly the dear relatives at home and retained
an affectionate regard for, but no implicit faith in,
a few schoolfellows and youthful companions. The
generalit}' of persons he encountered on his short
journey through the obscured byways of his life
could not inspire him with any regard or respect :
his shrewd mind penetrated their petty disguises,
and their faults and foibles were bared to his acute
sight.

Although there is no proof that Chatterton ever
doubted the reality of the qualities he had assigned
Canynges and his companions, historic truth compels
us to disrobe the leader of the group, at least, of
his imaginary glories. George Prj^ce has shown
conclusively that there is no proof of William
Canynges junior having given any pecuniary aid

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 73

towards the building or restoration of any portion of
St. Mary Redcliff during his Hfetime — although it
is very probable that, jointly with his fellow-citizens,
he may have contributed something towards such
objects — nor even in his will, when disposing of his
great riches, did he leave anything for these purposes ;
consequently, the memory of this wealthy and in-
fluential mayor has been flourishing beneath the
laurels belonging to others. A large amount of
the glory surrounding Canynges's name is due solely
to Chatterton's imagination. In his will, Canynges
did provide for considerable sums being paid to
ecclesiastics for the care of his spiritual future, with
due remembrance of all persons connected with St.
Mary's, the place of his sepulture. He even made
provision for chanters, two clerks, sufficiently in-
structed in reading and singing, and for a sexton.
If Chatterton knew of these bequests, as, doubtless,
he did, they alone would appeal to his gratitude,
seeing how his ancestors for several generations,
down even to his own father, must have benefited
by them. Nobly did the lad repay the inherited
debt of ages.

Founded, constructed, or restored by whom it may
have been, St. Mary Redcliff ranks amongst the
finest ecclesiastical edifices of England. In a charac-
teristic passage of a letter to his schoolfellow, Gary,
Chatterton refers to his beloved building in these
terms : " Step into Redcliffe Church, look at the noble
arches, observe the symmetry, the regularity of the
whole ; how amazing must that idea be which can
comprehend at once all that magnificence of archi-

74 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

lecture ; do not examine one particular beauty, or
dwell upon it minutely, take the astonishing whole
into your empty pericranium. . . . Step aside a
little and turn your attention to the ornaments
of a pillar of the chapel ; you see minute carvings
of minute designs, whose chief beauties are deformity
or intricacy. . . . If it is not too much trouble, take
a walk to the College-gate, view the labyrinth of
knots which twist round that mutilated piece, trace
the windings of one of the pillars, and tell me if
you don't think a great genius lost in these minutiae
of ornaments." These words were written from
London, far from this haunted home of his boyish
ideals, months after he had last seen the place, and
yet it is seen how indelibly imprinted upon his
" mind's eye " were the minutest features of the
place. It was a fitting frame for the beautiful
pictures the poet developed from his boyish day-
dreams.

In what manner Chatterton constructed his system
of antiquating his productions does not need much
fulness of explanation. Even many of the earliest
writers on the subject of the Rowley MSS. recognised
the fact that the substitution of a few modern words
for the antique or pseudo-antique equivalents used by
Chatterton would make his poems comprehended by
every reader ; and so thoroughly has this been under-
stood that very seldom, save in the earliest issues,
have they been published in their original spelling or
form ; they are nearly always printed in a modern
guise. As Chatterton generally supplied translations
of the strange words he used, the task of transmuting

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 76

his writings into modern English does not appear to
be very difficult, nevertheless, the modernisations
which appear from time to time are frequently far
from felicitous. The substitution of a commonplace
word for one of those invented by the lad often robs
a phrase of much of its vocal beauty ; even in the
best known and popular version of the poems by
Professor Skeat, the charm of the Chattertonian
phraseology often evaporates in the process of
translation. As Mr. Watts-Dunton points out, Pro-
fessor Skeat " seems to miss that peculiar musical
movement governing Chatterton's ear, which often
renders it impossible to replace by a modern word
whatsoever an archaism or pseudo-archaism of his,
whether invented by himself or found."

In an analysis of Chatterton's method of work,
C. V. Le Grice explains the process by a reversal
of the author's system ; by changing back words from
their archaic form to the English in which they were
originally written. There are exceptional instances
in which it is necessary or desirable to leave the word
in the Rowley spelling, as occasionally in lieu of
merely substituting an ancient or pseudo-ancient word
in place of the modern one Chatterton invented a
word to lengthen or shorten a verse, or to supply a
needed rhyme.' Practically the whole secret of the
fabrication of the Rowley dialect is thus explained.

When Chatterton had fairly mastered his system he
was able to write out his pieces with little resort to
his glossary, although after he had relinquished com-

' In these cases Chatterton's explanation of the strange word
supplies the required meaning.

76 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

posing Rowley Manuscripts for some time, during his
sojourn in London, he seems to have got so far out
of the way of it, that he was not able or did not
attempt to produce anything of the kind pending the
absence of his glossary. This glossary was a short
or much abridged dictionary, in one column of which
he entered a word that took his fancy, or that he
required to use, against which, in a parallel column,
he entered its antique equivalent, obtained from a
dictionary of ancient words. Thus, if he proposed to
use the word " robe," he entered it in one column
of his notebook, and in the parallel column placed
against it its Rowley equivalent "gite," so that " gites
of gold " must be rendered " robes of gold." This
simple process is occasionally varied by the invention
of new words, such as " lore " for " muscle," or by the
reconstruction of old words by a mental process which
can generally be followed or surmised ; or by chang-
ing the spelling of words to make them suit the
exigence of his rhyme or rhythm ; thus in the same
stanza Chatterton makes "run" rhyme with "gone,"
and then spells it " ryne," to make it rhyme with
" twine," and so forth.

A marked peculiarity of these poetical works is
the variety and modernity of the metres made use
of by their author. The mediaeval poets were very
restricted in their metrical formations, generally
employing the octosyllable line, with each line
rhyming with the next, or the ballad style which
came into use somewhat later, when lines of so many
feet or syllables were rhymed alternately. The
matter will be made clearer by a specimen of the

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 77

former by Chatterton, from his " Imitation of Our
Old Poets," as follows: —

The matin-bell had sounded long,

The cocks had sung their morning song ;

whilst his treatment of the old ballad form is shown
in these lines : —

Before him went a throng of friars

Who did the mass-song sing,
Behind him Master Canynge came

Tricked Uke a barbed' king.

A much later form of rhyming, attributed to the
invention of and named after Spenser, is employed
by that poet in "The Faery Queen." It consists
of stanzas of nine lines, the first and third rhyming
with one another, the second, fourth, fifth, and seventh
rhyming with each other, and the sixth, eighth, and
ninth rhyming together, the whole, as Professor
Skeat puts it, being expressed by letters, a, b, a, b,
b, c, b, c, c. To the Spenserian stanza Chatterton
added a tenth line, making it rhyme with the ninth,
which, unlike his predecessor's more intricate and
difficult plan, differed from all the preceding rhymes
of the stanza, and as explained by Professor Skeat,
is represented by the letters a, b, a, b, b, c, b, c, d, d.

Chatterton used this metrical arrangement for most
of his chief Rowley poems, including his rhymed
drama of " yElla," and the two poems on the " Battle
of Hastings." To all appearance it is an invention
of his own, and he deserves due credit for the

' Armoured.

78 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

originality. The invention of a new form of metre
is a rare feat, and Edgar Poe, a most artistic poet,
asserts that "the possible varieties of metre and
stanza are absolutely infinite and yet for centuries
no man, in verse, has ever done or even seemed to
think of doing, an original thing." Such originality,
Poe declares, "unless in minds of very unusual force,
is by no means a matter of impulse or intuition. To
be found it must be elaborately sought." Chatterton's
mind was undoubtedly of unusual force, and whether
his favourite form of stanza was obtained by careful
seeking, from impulse, or by intuition, his merit of
using it is deserving of hearty commendation.

Generally Chatterton's rhymes and rhythm are
good, although occasionally the latter is defective.
Chaucer and his contemporaries, as well as his
predecessors, and even his immediate followers, were
not particularly observant of rhyme, alliteration and
assonance (or similarity of sounds) having more
weight with them. Alliteration was considered by
them the chief thing necessary for the harmony of
their productions. The author of the Rowley
Manuscripts, ignorant of the fact, or ignoring it,
that poets of the period nearest to that his were
assigned to sounded the final e or es as a distinct
syllable, rarely availed himself of this practice of
pronunciation, although he made use of many modern
abbreviations, such as " 'twas," " I've," and so forth,
which fifteenth century writers were ignorant of.
Innumerable other peculiarities prove the impossi-
bility of the Rowley Manuscripts having been pro-
duced at the date claimed for them.

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 79

More interesting for the majority of Chatterton's
readers than an analysis of the technicaHties of his
Rowley works are the contents of these productions
themselves. According to Mrs. Newton, her brother
"used to read Rowley to her very often, and some-
times his own poems ; but, as the latter were almost
wholly satirical, the mother and grandmother grew
uneasy, fearing that they [the poems] should involve
him in some scrape ; after which he chiefly read
Rowley to her ; one of the poems, on ' Our Lady's
Church,' he read from a parchment, and as she
believes, the ' Battle of Hastings' also; but is not
certain." Being asked if she remembered any
particular passages that her brother had read, Mrs.
Newton replied, " The language was so old, that I
could not understand them : they were all to me a
mere blank, I had no kind of relish for them. This
my brother used sometimes to perceive, would grow
angry, and scold at me for want of taste ; but what
I sickened my poor brother with, I remember very
well, was my inattention to 'The Battle of Hastings,'
which before he used to be perpetually repeating."

The sister, also, recollected that when her brother
was inclined to be communicative he would read to
her from his drama of ".^lla"; and she likewise
remembered him having spoken of Turgot and
John Stowe, or, indeed, for the matter of that, was
eventually so badgered and bothered by various
persons desirous of proving that Chatterton had or
had not written the Rowley works, that she was
apparently able and willing to recollect or forget
anything they wished her to. One thing she held

80 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

to, and that was that she never saw him copying
any of these parchments at his mother's, but con-
cluded that he did it all at Mr. Lambert's office ;
where once, and once only, she thinks that she saw
him transcribing one of them. Mrs. Newton, with
a memory of the parchments she had seen brought
from the Muniment Room, described them as curled
and crumpled, and "green about the edges," whereas
those few which Chatterton ever produced as genuine
Rowley parchments were new and white at the edges.

Thus far the Rowley poems were not known to
any one outside Chatterton's own family circle ; but
a crisis was at hand. As the lad progressed in his
scheme he grew more and more hopeful. "He
would often speak in great raptures," said his sister,
"of the undoubted success of his plan for their future
life," and, elsewhere, she said, "when in good spirits,
he would promise my mother and me should be
partakers of his success." By this time he had
certainly written the larger portion of the poetical
works he proposed to introduce to the world as the
composition of Rowley, a mediaeval priest, and of his
associates and contemporaries. {Vide Appendix E.)

Young as Chatterton was, he was shrewd enough
and already knew enough of the world to be fully
aware that verses by a poor apprentice boy, even il
he could get them published, would only be treated
with contempt, whilst if brought out as the composi-
tion of a learned priest and his aristocratic associates,
and as written under the protection of Bristol's most
famous citizen, the wealthy and time-honoured
William Canynges, five times mayor of that city and

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 81

the supposed founder of her most admired edifice,
Redcliff Church, they would be certain to obtain wide
publicity and, as their real author undoubtedly felt,
enduring popularity. How to secure the needed
introduction to the world was the difficulty.

During the month of September, 1768, consider-
able excitement existed in Bristol on account of the
date approaching for the opening, after seven years
of building, of a new bridge, which had been sorely
needed for a very long time past. Owing to the
enormous increase which had taken place in the
population and traffic of the city since the old stone
bridge was erected in Henry the Second's reign, the
need of a new one was of ever-increasing urgency.
The civic excitement suggested to Chatterton an
opportunity of testing the reception his pseudo-
antique compositions would obtain on publication.
He expected to gauge the way his Rowley fabri-
cations would be accepted generally by the effect on
the Bristol journalistic readers of a preliminary
specimen. By this time he had, doubtless, gained
a knowledge of the interior working of the Bristol
Journal, in which his verses had hitherto appeared,
and he must have been personally known to some
of the editorial staff. On a day previous to
October ist, he called at the office of Felix Farley s
Journal, and left the following contribution for inser-
tion in the columns of that publication : —

Mr. Printer, — The following description of the Mayor first
passing over the Old Bridge, taken from an old Manuscript,
may not be unacceptable to the Generality of your Readers.

Yours, &c.,

DUNHELMUS BrISTOLIENSIS.

6

82 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

On Fridaie was the time fixed for passing the newe Brydge :
aboute the time of the tollynge the tenth clock, Master
Greggorie Dalbenye mounted on a Fergreyne " Horse, enformed
Master Maior all thyngs were prepared ; when two Beadils
want fyrst streyng fresh Stre, next came a Manne dressed up as
follows : — Hose of Goatskyne, Crinepart ^ outwards, Doublet
and Waystcoat also, over which a white Robe without Sleeves,
much like an Albe but not so longe, reaching but to Lends 3 ; a
Girdle of Azure over his left Shoulder, rechde also to his Lends
on the ryght, and doubled back to his Left, bucklyng with a
Gouldin Buckle, dangled to his knee ; thereby representing
a Saxon Elderman.

In his Hand he bare a Shield, the maytrie ■* of Gilley a
Brogton, who paincted the same, representyng Sainte Warburgh
crossynge the Ford. Then a mickle strong Mane in Armour,
carried a huge Anlace,' after whom came Six claryons and Six
Minstrels who sang the song of Sainte Warburgh then came
Master Maior, mounted on a white Horse, dight with sable
trappyngs wrought about by the Nunnes of Saint Kenna with
Gould and Silver, his Hayr braded with Ribbons, and a
Chaperon ^ with the auntient Armes of Brystowe fastende on his
Forehead. Master Maior bare in his Hande a goulden Rodde,
and a Dongean ^ Squier bare in his Hande his Helmet, waulking
by the Syde of the Horse ; than came the Eldermen and Cittie
Broders, mounted on Sable Horses dyght with white trappynges
and Plumes and Scarlet Copes and Chapeous ^ having thereon
Sable Plumes ; after them the Preests and Frears, Parysh,
Mendicaunt and Seculor, some syngyng Sainte Warburghs Song,
others sounding Clarions thereto, and others some Citrialles.9

In thilk manner reechynge the Brydge, the Manne with the
Anlace stode on the fyrst Top of a Mound yreerd in the midst
of the Bridge ; than want up the Manne with the Sheelde, after
him the Ministrels and clarions. And then the Preestes and
Freeres, all in white Albs, makyng a most goodlie Shewe ; the

' Iron grey. ' Hairy side. 3 Loins.

■♦ Masterpiece. ^ Sword.

* A little escutcheon on the foreheads of horses.

7 Dwarf. ^ Chapeau, a hat.

9 Cithern or guitar, but Barrett has a citron or guitrat.

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 83

Maior and Eldermen standing round, theie sang, with the sound
of Clarions, the Songe of Saincte Baldwyn ; which beyng done,
the Manne on the Top threwe with greet myght his Aniace into
the See, and the Clarions sounded an auntrant Charge and
Forloyn.'

Then theie sang again the Songe of Saincte Warburgh [see
Appendix E] and proceeded up Chrysts hill, to the Cross,
where a Latin Sermon was preached, by Ralf de Blundeville.
And with Sound of Clarion theie agayne went to the Brydge,
and there dined, spendyng the rest of the dale in Sportes and
Plaies, the Freers of Saincte Augustine doeyng the Plaie of the
Knyghtes of Brystowe, makynge a greet Fire at night on
Kynwulph Hyll.

It should be particularly noted that the explanations
or translations of the strange words are by Barrett,
of whom more hereafter, who seemed as conversant
with the Rowley idiom as was Chatterton himself.
The original manuscript is in the British Museum.

This curious communication, with its mixture of
modern and pseudo-ancient English, appeared in
Farley's Felix Journal for October i, 1768, when
Chatterton wanted a little more than a month to
complete his sixteenth year. It was the first published
piece of those sham antique writings known as the
" Rowley Manuscripts," the production of which
started a controversy, which has only recently died
out, as to their authorship. When it is seen what
little knowledge their author possessed of the language,
literature, and manners of the period he attempted
to portray, the crass stupidity of believers in the
antiquity of his Rowley transcripts appears almost
incredible.

The account of the mayor's passage of the new
' Retreat,

84 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Bridge gradually aroused interest amongst the quasi-
antiquarian brotherhood of Bristol. Inquiry was
instituted regarding the "old manuscript" and its
possessor, and after some investigation at the office
of the Journal, as to the identity of " Dunhelmus
Bristoliensis," it was discovered that the paper had
been left there by a lad named Chatterton. The
scrivener's apprentice was called upon and interro-
gated as to his possession of the document in a
manner that did not suit his proud spirit, and for
a time he baffled his questioners by declining to give
them any definite reply. Although still and always
determined not to give up the secret of his authorship,
the lad must have felt that he, as the author of the
paper, deserved better treatment than that of a mere
messenger or carrier of a document. Finding bully-
ing was of no avail, a different tone was adopted
by the inquisitive, and in consequence Chatterton
condescended to inform them that the " Account "
had been transcribed from one of the manuscripts
his father had obtained from the Muniment Room
over the north porch of Redcliff Church. This
explanation appears to have been accepted without
any demur, and the Bristolians, or rather that small
section of them interested in antiquarian matters,
seemed to be fully satisfied with the lad's statement.
There was one person at least to whom Chatterton
did not scruple to confess that he was the author of
the "Account," if that persons testimony might be
relied upon, but seeing that he made differing state-
ments of the affair, to different people, at different
times, on each occasion suiting his words to agree

THE ROWLEY ROMANCE 85

with the known views of his interlocutor on the
Rowley question, his evidence can only be regarded
with suspicion. John Rudhall, apprentice to an
apothecary of Bristol, was one of the members of
Chatterton's circle of acquaintances who were accus-
tomed to meet on certain evenings in Lambert's office
to discuss literary and other topics. According to
the story which Rudhall gave to Sir Herbert Croft,
many years after Chatterton's death, the poet, who
frequently called on Rudhall at his master's house,
obtained the youth's help in disguising a piece of
parchment so as to give it the appearance of antiquity.
This proceeding, Rudhall alleged, was just before the
description of the opening of the old bridge appeared
in Farley's Journal ; and after the paper had been
published Chatterton told him, so he said to Croft,
that the parchment he had seen manipulated was
what had been sent to the printer with the "Account"
upon it. As this story differs from one given by
Rudhall to Dean Milles, and as it does not agree
with the note sent to the Journal as to the
narrative being "taken from an old Manuscript,"
together with the extreme reticence of Chatterton
towards all his youthful companions on the subject
of Rowley generally, this asserted confession may be
regarded as non-proven. It is but fair to Rudhall
to state that he told Dean Milles it was only on one
occasion that he beheld old parchments manufactured
in the way described, and he never remembered
Chatterton mentioning Rowley's poems to him,
although he did on rare occasions intimate that
he was possessed of some valuable literary pro-

86 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

ductions. He acknowledged, also, that Chatterton
soon after broke ofif his acquaintance with him,
resenting by a challenge some good advice Rudhall
had given him in a point very essential to his
"temporal and eternal happiness." Both the lads, it
should be remembered, were only sixteen years old
at this time, and the one was scarcely as likely to
profit by the "good advice" as the other was likely
to be enabled to give it.

Amongst the material collected by George Catcott
respecting Chatterton is a note addressed by the
poet to Rudhall, with an enclosure for a Mr. Baster
(Garster?). The communications do not evince any
cordiality towards Rudhall, and appear to intimate
anything but friendly feeling for Baster. They are
both undated and unaddressed. That to Rudhall is: —

Sir, — By copying this in your next epistle to Mr. Baster,
you will oblige. Yours, &c., &c.,

Thomas Chatterton.

The enclosure for Baster is : —

Damn the Muses ! I abominate them and their works :
they are the Nurses of Poverty and Insanity. Your smiling
Roman Heroes were accounted such, as being always ready
to sacrifice their lives for the good of their country. He who
without a more sufficient reason than commonplace scurrility,
can look with disgust on his native place, is a villain, and a
villain not fit to live. I am obliged to you for supposing me
such a villain.

I am, your very humble servant,

Thomas Chatterton.

Evidently incitement to another challenge was
proffered by the hot-tempered lad in the above epistle.

CHAPTER VI

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES

FROM time to time Chatterton has been spoken
of and described by various persons as being
of a gloomy, reserved, and even sullen disposition, as
well as being an omnivorous reader, but a complete
misjudgment will be formed of his character and
temperament if it be deemed that he was generally,
or naturally, addicted to melancholia. Relatives refer
to his cheerfulness in childhood ; his most immediate
relations record his affectionate and loving nature, and
his more intimate associates speak of him as anything
but cold or reserved. He had his sorrowful moments
as well as his sunnier hours. His sister states that
when a child he was "gloomy from the time he
began to learn, but was more cheerful after he began
to write poetry." In his correspondence with his
friends it will be seen that he was sympathetic, warm-
hearted and genial, and when writing home to his
mother from London he reminds her that it is no
hard task for him to make an acquaintance, and, again,
that as he had " the happy art of pleasing in conversa-
tion," his company was found agreeable. He must
have possessed an attractive manner, or he would not

87

88 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

have been tolerated in the circles he eventually-
obtained admittance to at Bristol. Martha Catcott,
George Catcott's sister, described him to her nephew
as a sad wag of a boy, always up to some joke or the
other; and the sarcastic coat-of-arms which he designed
for the spinster lady proves that the lad was not above
enjoying a jest, and that he was not always sombre
and secretive, and only when the force of unhappy
circumstances made him so. There was plenty of
energy and healthful strength in his young life, and
had these characteristics been allowed to develop
naturally, a very different story might have been
Chatterton's.

Nevertheless, the youth did feel there was some-
thing missing in his temperament which his youthful
companions possessed. Up to the time when he
entered Mr. Lambert's office it was noted that he had
been remarkably indifferent to female society, but
one day when home from the scrivener's, he remarked
to his sister on "the tendency severe study had to
sour the temper, and declared he had seen all the sex
with equal indifference but those that Nature had made
dear." He added that "he thought of making an
acquaintance with a girl in the neighbourhood,
supposing it might soften the austerity of temper
study had occasioned." This discourse sounds some-
what priggish for a lad not long in his teens, but
Chatterton cannot be judged by an ordinary standard,
for at sixteen he was in many respects a man. With
his accustomed alacrity he wrote a poem to the girl
he had selected for his experiment and began a
correspondence with her. Love-poems, at any rate

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 89

in the class of folks Chatterton mixed with, are not
calculated to make any very deep impression on the
hearts of their recipients, but Miss Maria Rumsey
does appear to have responded to the youth's ad-
vances for a time. Eventually he was disgusted to
learn that his selected fair one, who was, apparently,
somewhat older than her lyrical swain, was engaged
to be married to one of his rivals, a man whom
Chatterton designated " Pitholeon " in writing about
the proposed match to his friend Baker, but who was
known to the common multitude as Jack Fowler.
Fowler, alleged to have been a Colston's boy, but
incorrectly, was a rival competitor in the " Poets'
Column " of Farley s Journal.

If Chatterton's vanity were wounded, his heart was
untroubled. Having started on a career of flirtation he
is next seen taking up with quite a large circle of girls,
but that they were all considered respectable may be
assumed, seeing that in writing home from London to
his mother he mentions them by name : in his allusions
to them he shows pretty conclusively that as yet he
is " fancy free." Nor had he ever had, as far as any
of his Bristol companions could see, even an ordinary
girl and boy courtship. As regards the lad's own
references in his verses to the many conquests he had
made among the fair sex and the numerous female
hearts he had broken, they may be regarded as about
as veracious as were his old Rowley Manuscripts.
However precocious lads of fifteen or sixteen may
be, they cannot be taken seriously, especially when
they are poets, if they brag about their amorous
exploits.

90 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Chatterton's character has been attacked in every
possible way by those deeming it advantageous to
their own to do so, and even by careless or pre-
judiced biographers. " He would frequently walk the
College Green with the young girls that statedly
paraded there to show their finery," says his sister,
" but I really believe that he was no debauchee {sic),
though some have reported it." "The dear boy had
faults enough," she adds pathetically, for "he was
proud and exceedingly impetuous," but she refuses
to believe that he could be justly accused of any traits
of sexual dissipation.

It will be gathered from this that the lad did not
entirely devote all his spare time to home life or
study, and that, despite his love for his relatives and
their surroundings, he had a spice of ordinary human
nature in his disposition and could brave it out
with others of his kind. Besides the girls whose
promenades he shared he had some youthful male
companions whom he more or less liked, or at all
events associated with. Some of them were old
schoolfellows and had been apprenticed in conditions
similar to his own. Although his late schoolmaster
Phillips and his former bedfellow Gary may have
been chief in his estimation, a somewhat large circle
of associates surrounded and were on friendly terms
with Ghatterton during his employment at Lambert's.
There is a noteworthy paragraph in one of his
letters to his mother, to the effect that " my youth-
ful acquaintances will not take it in dudgeon that
I do not write oftener to them, than I believe I
shall, but as I had the happy art of pleasing in

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 91

conversation, my company was often liked, "where I did
not like: and to continue a correspondence under
such circumstances would be ridiculous." The words
italicised supply the key to much that appears strange
in the reminiscences of the poet's youthful companions.
He made himself an agreeable associate with most of
them, discussed all subjects interesting to any of
them, but, however intimate he appeared to be
with some of them, he never displayed the inner-
most secrets of his heart to any of them.

All authorities agree that as a youth his appear-
ance was very prepossessing. Gregory, who had his
information from people personally acquainted with
Chatterton, says that his person, like his genius, was
premature, and that he had a manliness and dignity
beyond his years. Croft, who was favourably placed
to learn the truth, says, with regard to the poet's face
and person, " all agree that he was a manly, good-
looking boy," and "that there was something about
him which instantaneously prepossessed you in his
favour." " His most remarkable feature was his
eyes," notes Gregory, " which, though grey, were
uncommonly piercing : when he was warmed in argu-
ment or otherwise they sparkled with fire, and one
eye, it was said, was still more remarkable than the
other," a peculiarity, as Le Grice points out, he shared
with Byron. Chatterton himself appeared fond of
grey eyes, and he assigns to the heroine of his drama
of "iElla" " grey sparkling eyes." All who came in
close personal contact with the young poet noticed
the marvellous brilliancy of his eyes, and one of
them especially, George Catcott, declared he could

92 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

never look at it long enough to see what sort of
an eye it was ; but he thought it seemed to be
a kind of a hawk's eye, " you could see his soul
through it."

Barrett said from the nature of his profession he
took particular notice of Chatterton's eyes. He never
saw any like them, " one was still more remarkable
than the other. You might see the fire roll at the
bottom of them, as you sometimes do in a black eye,
but never in grey ones, which his were." According
to Croft's account, who must have had this informa-
tion at second or third hand, the surgeon often would
send for Chatterton and "differ from him in opinion,
on purpose to make him earnest and to see how
wonderfully his eye would strike fire, kindle and blaze
up." Everybody, indeed, who had much to do with
the youth appeared to be startled by the brilliancy of
his looks. Edward Gardner, although too young at
the time, according to his own words, to be a
competent judge of either Chatterton's acquirements
or manners, particularly recollected "the philosophic
gravity of his countenance and the keen lightning of
his eye ; " whilst Capel informed Bryant, who states he
had heard the same circumstance from others, that
upon the poet being any way irritated, or otherwise
greatly affected, there was " a light in his eyes, which
seemed very remarkable." ^

Some people were frightened by the severity of his
looks, and even his relative, Mrs. Ballance, is reported
by Croft to have declared that when he was lodging
with her in London, and had much to intensify the
sorrows of his situation, " he would often look

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 93

steadfastly in a person's face, without speaking, or
seeming to see the person, for a quarter of an hour or
more, till it was quite frightful ; during all which time
she supposes, from what she has since heard, his
thoughts were gone about something else." But
these recollections of his relative refer to the latter
part of his life, whilst more pleasing memories of his
earlier years are plentiful. As his first biographer
remarks, " By the accounts of all who were acquainted
with him, there was something uncommonly insinu-
ating in his manner and conversation. ... His
extensive, though in many instances superficial,
knowledge, united with his genius, wit, and fluency,
must have admirably accomplished him for the
pleasures of society. His pride, which perhaps should
rather be termed the strong consciousness of intellec-
tual excellence, did not destroy his affability. He
was always accessible, and rather forward to make
acquaintance than apt to decline the advance of
others." ^

His moderation in eating and drinking was wonder-
ful, especially for one so young. It is averred that
"he seldom ate animal food and never tasted any
strong or spirituous liquors," a most remarkable
circumstance in those days of excessive drinking,
and amongst all classes and all ages of people.
In his burletta, " The Revenge," Chatterton ex-
claims : —

' See his letter to his mother, p. 218, wherein he says, " Last
week being in the Pit of Drury Lane Theatre, I contracted an
immediate acquaintance, which you know is no hard task to me,
with a young gentleman."

94 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

I scorn the flowing bowl,
It prostitutes the sense, degenerates the soul,

and cannot find words strong enough to express his
contempt for the drunkard. Gregory asserts that he
Hved chiefly on a morsel of bread, or a tart, with a
draught of water, and the people with whom he
lodged in London fully confirm this by their state-
ments as to his habits whilst with them. Amongst
the memoranda preserved by the Rev. Samuel Seyer,
for a third volume of his " History of Bristol," are
many notes about Chatterton, chiefly obtained from
George Catcott and Barrett, and the following record
throws a strong light upon the relations between the
surgeon and the young poet: "With all his pro-
fligacy" — having reference to Chatterton's free-think-
ing — " Mr. Barrett could never make him drink."
Any comment on this is needless.

Croft was informed that when Chatterton was but
a child, " he would often refuse to take anything but
bread and water, even if it did happen that his mother
had a hot meal ; because he had a work in hand and
he must not make himself more stupid than God had
made him."

For a youth his sayings were remarkable. It was
a favourite maxim with him that "man was equal to
anything, and that everything might be acquired by
diligence and abstinence," whilst he asserte d that
" God had sent His creatures into the world with arms
long enough to reach anything if they would be at the
trouble of extending them." " To swear by the
honour of his ancestors" he deemed a sacred matter;

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 95

and Gregory, after referring to instances of his high
sense of dignity, remarks, the most amiable feature in
his character was his generosity and attachment to his
mother and relations.

The same authority, alluding to the number of
friends he had, says, " Notwithstanding his disposition
to satire, he is scarcely known to have had any
enemies ; " but unfortunately this last assertion is not
quite borne out by circumstances, as will be proved in
the course of this narrative.

His first biographer deems his knowledge was
sometimes superficial, and, indeed, the fewness of his
years scarcely permitted it to be otherwise, but his
reading was very extensive. His sister mentions a
catalogue of books he had read to the number of
several hundreds, and Chatterton, evidently with
reference to himself, in his story of " Astrae Brockage "
published in the Town and Country Magazine, speaks
with his usual exaggeration of " a young author who
has read more books than Magliabecchi." The list of
his accomplishments is, indeed, lengthy, and the
account which the not too friendly Thistlethwaite
gave of them scarcely overstated the truth. Besides
his voluminous writings and his extensive reading,
he made time, either during the day or in the solitude
of night, to study heraldry, music, and astronomy.
From Barrett and from Barrett's books be obtained
at least a smattering of theoretical surgery, and the
surgeon's " History of Bristol," as well as many
unpublished sketches, exist to prove that Chatterton
had acquired a greater knowledge of architecture than
have many students of that art after several years'

96 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

study. In his " Storie of Canynges" the boy poet
certainly indulged in a little self-portraiture when he
described his hero : —

In all his simple gambols and child's play,

At every merry-making, fair or wake,

I kenned a scattered light of Wisdom's ray;

He ate down learning with the wastle cake —

As wise as any of the aldermen,

He'd wit enough to make a mayor at ten.

His amusements, at least during his life in Bristol,
were restricted and simple. Although during his last
year or so at that city he visited at the houses of
professional people and mixed in the society of well-
to-do families, the associates of his own age were
generally of his own rank in life. His constant and
most frequent companion, William Smith, was the son
of a brewer of good standing in society. The two
lads seem to have indulged chiefly in writing verses
and rambling into the country around Bristol. His
sister and his mother spoke of him spending his
Sundays in walking into the country as far and as
long as his limited time permitted, and Smith's remi-
niscences of these excursions are amongst the most
interesting and suggestive ^of anything recorded of
the poet.

The accounts furnished by several of the comrades
Chatterton was acquainted with at this period, whilst
interesting as records of the impression he made
upon these youths, will be found to be all more or
less influenced by their own views of what he was
supposed to have said, done, or appeared. John
Rudhall's statements have been referred to already.

'¥-^-

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 97

Thomas Capel, a jeweller's apprentice, working in
the same building as Chatterton, was another of
these associates. He stated to Jacob Bryant, one
of the earliest writers and commentators on the
Rowley Manuscripts, that he had been acquainted
with the poet, and might have been very intimate
with him, but the "young man's pride disgusted
him ; and he had at the same time a dislike to his
principles." Nevertheless, they maintained an inti-
macy, and Capel assured Bryant that often when
he called on Chatterton he found him copying
manuscripts, certainly no unusual occupation for a
scrivener's office lad. Asked whether they were
parchments, Capel, "with proper caution," would not
take upon himself to say, but he ventured the sug-
gestion that they would not be found of much value.
He well remembered "that they lay in heaps; and
in great confusion and seemed rumpled and stained :
and near them were the papers upon which Chat-
terton was transcribing." All, doubtless, of interest
to jkcoh Bryant, but not of much importance to
anybody else. He added that the poet did speak
of them as ancient writings, and stated he was
" studying to understand the old language in which
they were written." Capel's further suggestion, " this
privacy in writing might arise from the dislike Mr.
Lambert showed to Chatterton's being employed in
this manner," would be incomprehensible but for his
further remark, "that he never saw the lad copying
but when his master was gone from home."

It may be added that this apprentice boy deemed
Rowley's poems, which he had, probably never read,

7

98 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

far superior to Chatterton's other compositions, and
said that he knew "that he was incapable of writing
them," and that "he did not beUeve there were two
persons in Bristol who thought Chatterton was the
author," in which belief he may have been correct
In speaking of Chatterton's appearance, Capel's
remarks may be found more interesting. He said,
"There was generally a dreariness in his look and
a wildness ; attended with a visible contempt for
others," which is very natural when it is seen the
class " the others " consisted of Moreover, continued
the sapient narrator, "there was upon his being any
way irritated, or otherwise greatly affected, a light
in his eyes, which seemed very remarkable," and
should have been, and probably was, a danger-signal
to bores.

The most intimate associate of Chatterton at this
time was Thomas Gary. They were schoolfellows
together at Colston's, Gary having entered the
Hospital on the nth of March, or only five months
before Chatterton, and having left it in September,
1766, nine months earlier than the poet. Cary was,
doubtless, the bedfellow referred to by Chatterton's
sister, Mrs. Newton ; and yet, despite the intimacy
such a close association must have engendered, and
the sincere affection the poet bore for his school
chum and brother author, Cary evidently never knew
the truth regarding the Rowley papers. As he states
in a letter to George Gatcott, he had from his inti-
macy with Chatterton " had it in my power to and
did observe the progress of his genius from his
infancy to the fatal dissolution," and yet such was

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 99

the secrecy the creator of Rowley preserved with
all, even his nearest and dearest, Gary was able
to assert, and apparently with all sincerity, that
although Chatterton's "abilities for his age were
undoubtedly very great," yet in his opinion they
" were not equal to the works of Rowley." That
is to say, Gary, notwithstanding the fact that he was
a well-educated man, an experienced writer of prose
and verse, and the constant associate of Ghatterton,
not having, as he confesses, "any taste myself for
ancient poetry," and never having been shown the
Rowley poems by their author, was not a competent
judge of their value or of Ghatterton's ability to
produce them.

Despite this slackness of appreciating his friend's
genius, Thomas Gary was really an experienced if
not a very talented author. Dr. Wilson — who has
been blindly followed by succeeding biographers, had
to imagine what he did not know, and thus wrongly
makes a lad named Baker, who never was a pupil
at Golston's Hospital, the bedfellow of Ghatterton
at that institution — states that Gary was a pipe-maker
of Bristol, in humble circumstances, confusing him,
apparently, with a man named Garty of that city,
and upon the supposition bases various fallacies.
Thomas Gary was one of those aspiring pupils at
Colston's who, following the lead of their beloved
master, Phillips, took to versifying, and adopted
authorcraft, not as a profession, but as a hobby.
Gary from his position and associations seems to
have done better than most of the small band of
poetasters inspired by Phillips. He was apprenticed

100 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

to Henry Cruger, a merchant doing business with
North America ; one of the Members of Parliament
for Bristol, and a man of no slight notoriety in the
politics of his time.

If Gary may be identified as the schoolfellow of
Chatterton referred to in the Monthly Mirror for
October, 1809, he must have followed in his em-
ployer's footsteps so far as to become an affluent
mercantile man and well versed in American com-
mercial affairs. At any rate he was Chatterton's
most intimate associate in Bristol and his confiden-
tial correspondent when the poet went to London.
He dabbled in political economy, and published a
" Discourse on Trade and other Matters ; " he was a
contributor to the magazines of the day and is
credited with a knowledge of music.

It is seen that, despite his knowledge of and
affection for Chatterton, after the poet's death, when
George Gatcott made known to him his desires on the
Rowley controversy, Gary readily met the pewterer's
wishes respecting the assumed authenticity of the
manuscripts, and wrote to him in the following
terms : —

I have frequently heard Chatterton make mention of such
writings being in his possession, shortly after his leaving school,
when he could not be more than fifteen years of age ; and that
he had given Mr. Barrett and Mr. Catcott part of them. Not
having any taste myself for ancient poetry, I do not recollect
his ever having shown them to me ; but that he often men-
tioned them, at an age when (great as his capacity was) I am
convinced he was incapable of writing them himself, I am
very clear in, and confess it to be astonishing, how any
person knowing these circumstances can entertain even a

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 101

shadow of a doubt of their being the works of Rowley. Of
this I am very certain, that if they are not Rowley's, they are
not Chatterton's. This, I think I am warranted in asserting,
as from my intimacy with him I had it in my power to, and
did observe the progress of his genius from his infancy to the
fatal dissolution. His abilities for his age were beyond con-
ception great but not equal to the works of Rowley, particularly
at the age that he produced them to light. I think I need say
no more to convince any rational being of their being genuine ;
in which persuasion I rest.

That Gary, who had no taste for ancient poetry,
whatever knowledge he may have had of poHtical
economy and commerce, was no competent judge of
the Rowley Manuscripts, or of their author's capacity
to write them, needs no discussion.

There was yet one other associate of Chatterton
who, on being appealed to for his views on the
subject of the lad's talents, and his ability to write
the Rowley Manuscripts, gave them in a way to
satisfy the wishes of his interrogators. James
Thistlethwaite, whilst necessarily furnishing some
facts in his lengthy reminiscences of his deceased
companion, has perverted dates and misstated events
with so much craft that it is dangerous to place trust
in any portion of his narrative not confirmed by more
trustworthy evidence. On his leaving school, not
at Colston's Hospital, as so confidently asserted by
Professor Wilson and his copyists, but, apparently, one
of the Bristol free schools, Thistlethwaite had been
apprenticed to a Mr. Grant, bookseller and stationer,
having business premises in the vicinity of Corn
Street. Eventually he became a law student, ob-
tained some position in the legal profession, and, like

102 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

so many of Chatterton's associates, dabbled in litera-
ture, "The Prediction of Liberty," "The Tories in
the Dumps," and " The Consultation " being amongst
the various works he published. Dr. Glynn, a man
whose printed obscenities exceeded all the most dis-
gusting licence of those times, and whose filthy
references to Chatterton no publication of these days
would venture to reproduce, in his attempted dis-
paragement of the poor lad, declared that the last-
named work of Thistlethwaite was superior to the
acknowledged verses of Chatterton, but any merit
it might have appeared to Dr. Glynn to possess, and
really it appears to have none, is discounted by the
fact, pointed out by Thomas Warton, that it is
pillaged wholesale from a volume styled " Patriotism,"
by Thomas Bentley, published in 1765.

In a letter to Dean IMilles, Thistlethwaite thus
replies to a request to fulfil his promise of relating
particulars of his acquaintance with Chatterton : —

In the summer of 1763, being then in the twelfth year of
my age, I contracted an intimacy \^ath one Thomas Phillips,
who was for some time usher or assistant master of a charity
school. . . . Phillips, notwithstanding the disadvantages of a
very confined education, possessed a taste for history and poetrj' ;
of the latter, the magazines and other periodicals of that time
furnish no very contemptible specimen.

Towards the end of that year, by means of my intimacy
with Phillips, I formed a connection with Chatterton, who was
on the foundation of that school and about fourteen months
j'ounger than myself. The poetical attempts of PhiUips had
excited a kind of literar\- emulation amongst the elder classes of
the scholars. ... In all these trifling contentions . . . Chat-
terton appeared merely as an idle spectator. . , .

Contenting himself with the sports and pastimes more adapted

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 103

to his age, he apparently possessed neither inclination nor
indeed ability for literary pursuits ; nor do I believe (notwith-
standing the evidence adduced to the contrary) that he
attempted the composition of a single couplet during the first
three years of my acquaintance with him.

Going down Horse Street, near the School, one day during the
summer of 1764, I accidentally met with Chatterton. Enter-
ing into conversation with him ... he informed me that he
was in possession of certain old MSS. which had been found
deposited in a chest in Redcliffe Church and that he had lent
some or one of them to PhilHps. Within a day or two after
this, 1 saw Phillips and repeated to him the information I had
received from Chatterton. Phillips produced a MS. on parch-
ment, or vellum, which I am confident was " Elenoure and
Juga," a kind of pastoral eclogue, afterwards published in The
Town and Country for May, 1769. . . . The writing was
yellow and pale, manifestly occasioned by age, and conse-
quently difficult to decipher. Phillips had with his pen traced
and gone over several of the lines . . . and by that means
laboured to attain the object of his pursuit, an investigation of
their meaning. I endeavoured to assist him, but, from an
almost total ignorance of the character, manners, language and
orthography of the age in which the lines were written all our
efforts were unprofitably exerted. . . . Phillips was mortified,
expressing his sorrow at his want of success, and repeatedly
declaring his intention of resuming the attempt at a future
period.

It will readily be acknowledged that Thistlethwaite,
making these statements seventeen years after the
events to which he refers, could scarcely be implicitly
relied on, and seeing that both Phillips and Chatterton
had been dead for many years, he had little need to
fear his remarks would be authoritatively controverted.
Apparently he had something to conceal in respect
to his own humble origin, which he feared might be
revealed by the confession of too early an acquaint-

104 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

ance with Colston's charity scholars. At any rate,
the "kind of pastoral eclogue" could scarcely have
been recognised by this thirteen-year-old schoolboy
until, long after, he beheld the poem of "Elinoure £nd
Juga" in print, nor was it possible for Chatterton, not
then twelve, to have written so fine a piece, seeing the
style and calibre of the verses he was then producing.
The unimpeachable testimony of his mother and sister,
confirmed by the positiv^e evidence of all unprejudiced
witnesses, proves that Chatterton was unaware of the
existence of the so-called " Canynges " deeds, upon
which the Rowley romance was based, until after he
had left Colston's Hospital.

Thistlethwaite had an object to serve by his story,
and all his narrative was written with this purpose in
view. His interesting incident, repeated and com-
mented upon by Wilson and his many followers, of
Phillips's inability to decipher one or some of the
Rowley Manuscripts, and all the circumstantial evi-
dence proffered in connection with it, must be rele-
gated to that limbo whence so manv of the statements
made about Chatterton deserved to be consiofned
for ever : —

Althouo-h so much of Thistlethwaite's narrative is
worse than inaccurate, there appears to be some
facts stated in it, with some exaggeration, it is true,
therefore it is desirable to resume it : —

In the year 1765 (he states) I was put apprentice to a
stationer at Bristol. . . . Towards the latter end of 1767, or
the beginning of 176S, being sent to the ofiice of Mr. Lambert, for
some books which vvtmted binding, I found Chatterton, who was
an articled clerk to Mr. Lambert, and who, as I collected from

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 105

his own conversation, had been adventuring in the fields (sic) of
Parnassus. . . .

In the course of the years 1768 and 1769, wherein I fre-
quently saw and conversed with Chatterton, the eccentricity of
his mind and the versatility of his disposition seem to have been
singularly displayed. One day he might be found busily
employed in the study of Heraldry and EngUsh antiquities,
both of which are numbered amongst the most favourite of his
pursuits ; the next, discovered him deeply engaged, confounded
and perplexed, amidst the subtleties of metaphysical disquisition
or lost and bewildered in the abstruse labyrinth of mathematical
researches ; and these in an instant again neglected and thrown
aside to make room for astronomy and music, of both of which
sciences his knowledge was entirely confined to theory. Even
physic was not without a charm to allure his imagination, and
he would talk of Galen, Hippocrates, and Paracelsus with all the
confidence and familiarity of a modern empiric. . . .

During the year 1868, at divers visits I made him, I found him
employed in copying Rowley from what I then considered and
do still consider as authentic and undoubted originals. By the
assistance he received from the glossary to Chaucer, he was
enabled to read with great facility, even the most difficult of
them ; and unless my memory very much deceives me, I once
saw him consulting the " Etymologicon Linguas Anglicanas " of
Skinner.

I perfectly remember to have read several stanzas copied
from the " Death of Syr Charles Bawdin," the original also of
which then lay before him. ... I am nevertheless of opinion
that the language was much more obsolete than it appears in the
edition published by Mr. Tyrwhitt ; probably occasioned by
certain interpolations of Chatterton, ignorantly made with an
intention, as he thought, of improving them.

Several pieces which afterwards made their appearance in
the Town and Country Magazine were written by him during
this year 1768, particularly certain pretended translations from the
Saxon and Ancient British ; very humble and in some instances
very unsuccessful attempts at the manner and style of Ossian.
Chatterton whenever asked for the originals of these pieces
hesitated not to confess, that they existed only in his own
imagination, and were merely the offspring and invention of

106 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

fancy ; on the contrary his declaration whenever questioned as
to the authenticity of the poems attributed to Rowley, was
invariably and uniformly in support of their antiquity, and
the reputation of their author, Rowley, instantly sacrificing
thereby all the credit he might, without a possibility of detection,
have taken to himself ... a circumstance which I am assured
could not fail of operating upon a mind like his, prone to vanity
and eager of applause.

With respect to the firstpoemof the"Battleof Hastings"it has
been said that Chatterton himself acknowledged it to be a
forgery of his own ; but let any unprejudiced person advert only
for a moment to the situation in which Chatterton then stood,
and the reason and necessity of such a declaration will be
apparent.

The very contracted state of his finances, aided by a vain
desire of appearing superior to what his circumstances afforded,
induced him, from time to time, to dispose of the poems in his
possession, to those from whose generosity and patronage he
expected to derive some considerable pecuniary advantages. I
will not hesitate to assert, and I speak from no less authority
than Chatterton himself, that he was disappointed in this expec-
tation, and thought himself not sufficiently rewarded by his
Bristol patrons, in proportion to what he thought his communi-
cation deserved. From this circumstance it is easy to account
for the answer given to Mr. Barrett, on his repeated solicitation,
for the original, viz., that he himself wrote that poem for a friend ;
thinking perhaps that if he parted with the original poem, he
might not be properly rewarded for the loss of it.

" That vanity and an inordinate thirst after praise eminently
distinguished Chatterton, all who knew him will readily admit
. . . from a full assurance of the truth of which proposition, I
conceive myself at liberty to draw the following inference, that
had Chatterton been the author of the poems imputed to
Rowley ... he would have made it his first, his greatest
pride.

One important remark will be noticed in Thistle-
thwaite's narrative, and that is, he had Chatterton's own
authority for the statement that he was disappointed

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 107

in his expectations as to the reward he had expected
to receive from the men who had importuned him for
the Rowley Manuscripts, and who, when they had
obtained them, gave him Httle or nothing for his
treasures. That Chatterton was disappointed in this
important matter explains much. Had he taken to
them poetry or prose, confessedly written by himself,
Messrs. Barrett, Catcott, and company would have
scorned the offering, but the manuscripts presented
to them as by the mediaeval priest, Rowley, were
valuable in many ways. Their eagerness to get
possession of such manuscripts tempted the lad to
hand over his poetic productions to them, but the
poverty of their recompense showed him their in-
ability to gauge the real value of their acquisitions.
Their powerlessness to make these works publicly
known became apparent and proved to him that
he must seek elsewhere for public recognition and
reward.

From Thistlethwaite's communication it will be
readily perceived that he was prepared to accept the
views of the living in preference to those of the dead,
but there is little need to enlarge further upon the self-
evident fact. It will have been observed that amongst
the various pursuits Thistlethwaite refers to as occupy-
ing the attention of Chatterton was that of Heraldry.
He had acquired some knowledge of the subject,
never much more than a smattering, in the following
way. Amongst the youthful acquaintances he made
at this period of his career was Thomas Palmer, an
apprentice to a jeweller named Henderson, whose
business place was in the same building in Corn

108 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Street as Lambert's. Palmer did the heraldic drawing
and engraving for his employer, and, according to his
own account, was very useful to Chatterton. They
were accustomed to meet at the gatherings which took
place in the scrivener's office, and the poet, according
to Palmer, being very anxious to understand heraldic
drawings, applied to him for instructions on the sub-
ject. This was given to him by the engraver, who
also, so he said, taught him to colour his designs with
their proper colours. Many of the sketches Chatter-
ton executed at this time are in the British Museum
collection, and they prove that his knowledge on the
subject was but rudimentary.

Chatterton became very fond of heraldic studies,
despite the fact that amid his many occupations he
never thoroughly mastered the art, and he liked to tell
people what their coats-of-arms were and how they
originated. He informed Palmer that persons used to
go to the Holy Land as pilgrims and that when they
returned home they brought back with them branches
of palm, and were therefore called " Palmers " ;
and that the arms of the Palmer family were
" three palm branches and their crest a leopard, or
tiger with a palm branch in its mouth." Later on will
be seen one of the uses Chatterton put his acquire-
ments in the way of Heraldry to, when producing the
alleged pedigree of Burgum, the pewterer.

Palmer states that he spent much time in the
evenings with Capel, Thistlethwaite, and others, in
Lambert's office, discussing with Chatterton literary
matters, and debating over the contributions they
were preparing to send to the Bristol periodicals. As

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 109

is known, Chatterton had frequently contributed to
Farley s J ournal, but without attracting any attention
until he sent in the paper on the " Mayor's passing
over the Old Bridge," and his most intimate
associates do not appear to have had any know-
ledge of the fact that he had already published
verses.

It was within Palmer's remembrance that Chatterton
was left alone a great deal in Lambert's office, and on
such occasions appeared to dislike being disturbed.
He was at times very reserved and was considered
by his comrades to be extremely proud. For several
days together he would go in and out of the office
without speaking to any one, and appeared absorbed
in thought, but after such periods of seclusion he
would invite his associates into his room and, accord-
ing to the testimony of Palmer, read portions of the
Rowley poems to them.

There is yet another youthful friend of Chatterton
to be introduced. William Bradford Smith, the poet's
"bosom friend," as his nephew subsequently desig-
nated him, may not have been one of the youths who
congregated together at Lambert's, but he was some-
what of a Bohemian, consorted with "all sorts and
conditions of men," but was not considered a welcome
guest at his parents' table. In a premature elegy
on this William, by Chatterton, due to a report that
he had killed himself, and endorsed by its author,
" Happily mistaken, having since heard from good
authority, it is Peter," the "good authority" being,
probably, William, as Peter was his brother, the poet
addresses the presumed suicide as " Despised, an

110 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

alien to thy father's breast ; " and in his usual terms
of exaggeration, declares —

I loved him with a brother's ardent love,
Beyond the love which tenderest brothers bear.

Richard Smith, the surgeon, speaks of Chatterton's
intimacy with his Uncle William as the natural result
of them being " birds of a feather," referring appar-
ently to the circumstance that his uncle wrote verses
in torrents daily, to within a few hours of his death.
Some of these verses, it should be pointed out, appear
to have been bound up with the Chattertonian MSS.
in the British Museum, under a misapprehension as
to their authorship, but their style should have been
sufficient to have discredited any idea that they were
Chatterton's.

It is uncertain how Chatterton first became ac-
quainted with William Smith, but Smith, as one of
the mob of young Bristolians who spent their spare
time in writing verses, had claims to Chatterton's
notice. The two soon became boon companions, if
not confidential friends. William Smith belonged
to a higher grade of society than the rest of Chatter-
ton's youthful associates, and it is noticeable that
Smith speaks in stronger terms and in a more exalted
manner of the boy poet than do any of the appren-
tice lads or Colston's boys. He tells how Chatter-
ton frequently consulted him about studying Latin ;
having a desire to learn the language and thought
to be able to do so without the aid of a master. Smith
states that he " always dissuaded him from it, as being
in itself impracticable," why he does not say, and

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 111

advised him "by all means to try at French." " Try
French if you please. Of that you may acquire some
knowledge without much difficulty, and it will be of
real service to you. As to Latin, depend upon it you
will find it too hard for you."

Why Chatterton was to be dissuaded from studying
a language that would be useful to him in his literary
and probably valuable in his legal pursuits it is difficult
to see ; especially in favour of attempting another
which might not prove of great utility to him and
where a master was indispensable. The lad did
obtain a smattering of both tongues, but had no
opportunity of gaining much knowledge of either.
Smith was a wayward lad, who grew into an eccentric
man, after a series of escapades and adventures nume-
rous and singular enough to fill volumes. However
great the intimacy between the two lads may have
been, Chatterton by the time he became intimate with
Smith had grown wary and more secretive than ever,
so he never confided to the " bosom friend " the fact
that he had any more to do with the Rowley Manu-
scripts than introduce them to the public. Whilst still
at Lambert's Chatterton would read to Smith various
writings in prose and verse, which he ascribed to
Rowley, or his presumed circle ; and frequently at the
scrivener's Smith had to listen to pieces apparently
just transcribed by Chatterton, but without finding
any pleasure in the reading, candidly confessing, " I
had no taste for such things."

There were other occasions when the two lads
met on more congenial ground. Chatterton was
always very fond of walking in the fields, says his

112 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

companion, " and particularly in Redcliffe Meadows ;
and of talking about the Rowley Manuscripts.
' Come,' he would say, ' you and I will take a
walk in the meadow. I have got the cleverest
thing for you that ever was. It is worth half-a-
crown merely to have a sight of it ; and to hear
me read it to you.' When we were arrived at the
place proposed, he would produce his parchment ;
show it and read it to me. There was one spot
in particular, full in view of the church, in which
he seemed always to take a particular delight. He
•mould frequently lay himself down, fix his eyes upon
the church, and seem as if he were in a kind of ecstasy
or trance. Then on a sudden and abruptly, he would
tell me, ' that steeple was burnt down by lightning ;
that was the place where they formerly acted plays ' :
meaning if I remember rightly what is now called
the Parade. I recollect very assuredly that he had
a parchment in his hand at the very time when he
gave me this description ; but whether he read this
history out of that parchment, I am not certain."

Being further asked by Dr. Glynn if Chatterton
ever spoke of the Rowley Manuscripts as if he
would have it considered they were his own com-
position. Smith waxed warm, deeming his friend's
veracity was being impugned, and answered, " Chatter-
ton not only never offered to claim them as his own,
but never so much as dropped any hint that way ;
never seemed as if he wanted people to suspect,
much less believe, that they were of his composing.
' Look you. Sir,' said he, ' you will be pleased to
understand me right, what I have here said, I mean

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 113

in respect of such things only as he gave to Mr.
Catcott and Mr. Barrett, which were undoubtedly
ancient. Whatever he gave out as his own, or
published as his own, I know to have been his,
unquestionably. He had no occasion to be beholden
to any other man's labour for a character. He was
one of the most extraordinary geniuses I ever knew.
The most extraordinary I ever heard of.' " Smith
then launched forth into an encomium upon the
deceased Chatterton, which seems to have disgusted
the interrogator, who deemed it extravagant and only
excusable in one who had so great a regard for
his friend's memory.

Mr. George Catcott possessed a curious epistle
addressed by Chatterton to some friend, as "The
Infallible Doctor," by whom it is stated he indicated
William Smith. It is not known what authority
either Cottle or Catcott had for this indication, but
the contents of the letter correspond closely with
those of the communication his sister says he wrote
to his friend Baker, which she described as con-
taining "all the hard words in the English language."
The letter to Baker already quoted came from the
collection of George Catcott, it may be remarked,
and that now referred to may have been intended
for Baker also. It is undated and reads thus : —

Infallible Doctor, — Let this apologise for long silence.
Your request would have been long since granted, but I know
not what it is best to compose : as Hendecasyllabum carmen,
Hexastichon, Ogdastich, Tetrametrum, or Septenarius. You
must know I have been long troubled with a Poetical Cephalo-
phonia, for I no sooner begin an Acrostick, but I wander into

8

114 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

a Threnodia. The poem ran thus : the first line an Acatalectos ;
the second an ^tiologia of the first ; the third, an Acyrologia ;
the fourth an Epanalepsis of the third ; fifth a Diatyposis of
beauty ; sixth a Diaporesis, of success ; seventh a Brachycata-
lecton ; eighth an Ecphonesis of Ecplexis. In short an
Emporium could not contain a greater Synchysis of such
accidents without Syzygia. I am resolved to forsake the
Parnassian Mount, and would advise you to do so too, and
attain the mystery of composing Smegma. Think not I make
a Mycterismus in mentioning Smegma. No : my Mnemosyne
will let me see (unless I have an Amblyopia) your great services,
which shall be remembered by

" Hasmot Etchaorntt."

The signature to this wonderful composition is
nothing but Thomas Chatterton anagramatised, whilst
all the mysterious-looking words, as G. V. Le Grice
has pointed out, are to be found in Kersey's
" Dictionary," 1708 edition, and therein is the key
to the Rowley Manuscripts.

Almost all the antique words in those manuscripts,
as G. V. Le Grice, Professor Skeat, and others have
explained, and as any one can see for himself by
inspection, are contained in Bayley's and Kersey's
dictionaries or Speght's " Chaucer." The few
strange exceptions to this rule were words inserted
or modified by Chatterton himself, generally to
make a rhyme, but sometimes through a misunder-
standing of Old English grammatical construction.

Chatterton remained on friendly terms with William
Smith to the end of his short life. The two lads
exchanged verses, and in 1769 Chatterton wrote
impromptu in the presence of this friend some lines
on the " Immortality of the Soul." George Pryce

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 116

records that the two lads having had a discussion
about the immortality of the soul, Chatterton was
inspired there and then to write the following
verses : —

Say, O my soul, if not allowed to be
Immortal whence the mystery we see
Day after day, and hour after hour,
But to proclaim its never-ceasing power ?
If not immortal then our thoughts of thee
Are visions but of non-futurity.
Why do we live to feel of pain on pain,
If, in the midst of hope, we hope in vain ?

Perish the thought in night's eternal shade
To live then die, man was not only made.
There's yet an awful something else remains
Either to lessen or increase our pains.
Whate'er it be, whate'er man's future fate.
Nature proclaims there is another state
Of woe or bhss. . . .

Oh ! may our portion in that world above.
Eternal Fountain of Eternal Love,
Be crowned with peace that bids the sinner live ;
With praise to Him who only can forgive —
Blot out the stains and errors of our youth ;
Whose smile is mercy, and whose word is truth.

At different times varying phases of thought would
sway the young poet's mind. At one moment full of
hope and faith, he would speak or write accordingly,
and at another his words or works would portray the
sharpest sarcasm or the deepest despair. Much of
his writing was impromptu : dashed off as the spirit
moved him, and never intended for publicity, or.

116 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

at all events, for further inspection than that of one
pair of eyes beyond his own.

One way of dealing with an insolvable mystery is
portrayed by the above verses, and in another set
addressed to Smith, at an apparently later period,
a similar problem is dealt with in an entirely different
manner; thus in "The Defence," addressed to the
same friend, on December 25, 1769, he writes: —

No more, dear Smith, the hacknied tale renew ;
I own their censure, 1 approve it too.
For how can idiots, destitute of thought,
Conceive or estimate, but as they're taught ?

If in myself I think my notions just

The church and all her arguments are dust.

Happy the man whose reason bids him see
Mankind are by the state of nature free ;
Who, thinking for himself, despises those
That would upon his better sense impose ;
Is to himself the minister of God,
Nor treads the path where Athanasius trod,
Happy (if mortals can be) is the man,
Who, not by priest but Reason, rules his span.

Can the Eternal Justice pleased receive.
The prayers of those who, ignorant, believe ?

But why must Chatterton selected sit
The butt of every critic's little wit ?
Am I alone for ever in a crime,
Nonsense in prose or blasphemy in rhyme ?

Then adverting to what is said, or he fancies is,

JUNIOR ASSOCIATES 117

about his own compositions, he proceeds to quote the
critic : —

Besides the author, 'faith,' tis something odd,
Commends a reverential awe of God.
Read but another fancy of his brain,
He's atheistical in every strain ;

And then answering the supposed accusation says —

Fallacious is the charge — 'tis all a lie,
As to my reason I can testify,
I ovim a God, immortal, boundless, wise.
Who bids our glories of creation rise. . . .

Why then, dear Smith, since doctors disagree,
Their notions are not oracles to me.
What I think right I ever will pursue.
And leave you liberty to do so too.

Whether these lines were given to Smith, or not,
matters little, as Chatterton evidently sometimes used
a friend's name as a peg whereon to hang his fancies
or theories. It may be remarked that Smith, or
" Uncle Bendy," as he was called by his relatives,
had a chequered career, and lived to a good old age,
but never could be induced to believe that his boy-
hood's friend was the author of the Rowley Manu-
scripts. Often when his nephews would question him
on the subject, he would exclaim, " No, no ! Tom was
a very clever fellow, but he could not write that."

Chatterton had never told him that he had written
the Rowley poems, and not to have trusted him, his
" bosom friend " would have been an insult to his

118 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

friendship. In a short account of Smith, which
appeared in 1836, in which year he died on January 8th,
aged eighty-nine, it records that when his attention was
drawn to Southey and Cottle's edition of Chatterton's
works, assigning the Rowley pieces to his friend's
pen. Smith only gave a sceptical shake of the head,
and exclaimed, " He, Sir ! What Tom Chatterton
write Rowley's poems? No, Sir, he was incapable
of so doing ! He no more wrote them than I did ! "

GEORGE SYMES CATCOTT.
After the piirtrait by E. Bird, R.A., the property of Harry Goodwin Rootli, Esq.

CHAPTER VII

BRISTOL ELDERS

SHORTLY after the publication of his paper
in Farley s Journal, concerning the opening
of the "Old Bridge" at Bristol, Chatterton made the
acquaintance of a Mr. George Symes Catcott, de-
scribed by Dr. Gregory, the poet's first biographer,
as " a gentleman of an inquisitive turn and fond
of reading." Chatterton's introduction to George
Catcott was brought about by the lad's associate,
William Smith, who was related to Catcott. Know-
ing his relative's love of antique literature. Smith
informed him, as the two were walking together in
Redcliff Church, that several pieces of ancient poetry
had been discovered in that building and were in the
possession of a young person with whom he was
acquainted. Catcott desired to see these manuscripts,
and was speedily introduced to the " young person,"
who was, of course, Thomas Chatterton. At this
interview Catcott obtained from the youth, " without
any reward," " The Bristowe Tragedie," and some
other poetical pieces.

As this George Catcott had much to do with
Chatterton, and still more with the Rowley papers.

120 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

some information about him will be acceptable.
Although the partner of Burgum, a pewterer, he was
a man of some education and well connected. He
was a son of the Rev. Alexander S. Catcott, a
descendant of Alderman Whitson, founder of the Red
Maids School, at Bristol, master of the Bristol
Grammar School, Rector of St. Stephen's of that city,
and a good Hebrew scholar, no slight distinction in
those days. Another of this clergyman's sons was
the Rev. Alexander Catcott, Vicar of Temple Church,
Bristol, and author of a " Treatise on the Deluge."

Besides making himself notorious by the perform-
ance of certain mad-headed actions, George Catcott
was known as having a collection of books, none of
which, as he boasted, was less than a hundred years
old. His favourite author was Charles the First,
whose reputed works he is said to have learnt by
heart, and, according to one of his contemporaries,
very seldom went out without them in his pocket.
Richard Smith junior, a surgeon, who spared no one
in his sarcasm, not even his own relatives, in describ-
ing George Catcott, whose nephew he was, says,
"The fame of Rowley has been reflected on his
' Midwife,' as my uncle had been nicknamed, and it
was supposed that he must be ' a most learned
Theban,' which was a great mistake, for he had
small Latin and no Greek. In fact, he was nothing
more than a simple, plain, single-headed, honest man."

The nephew's statement is given for what it is
worth, but it has not been accepted by writers on
Chatterton as as entirely accurate description of the
uncle's character. In addition to his love of old

BRISTOL ELDERS 121

books, and an unquenchable thirst for notoriety,
George Catcott, by his parsimonious treatment of the
young poet and, subsequently, of the lad's mother,
proved that in his eagerness for the acquisition of
riches he was not over-scrupulous about the method
of obtaining them. Of course it was from a desire to
increase his worldly possessions that he entered into
partnership with Burgum, but it is not likely that he
had any knowledge of the pewtering business, or,
indeed, ever attained any skill in it. The firm of
Burgum and Catcott carried on business at the Port
of Bristol Bridge, in the parish of St. Nicholas,
within the city walls boundary. Amongst the
schemes for advertising their trade, or of acquiring
that notoriety of which he was so ambitious, some of
Catcott's ways were singularly original.

On the 20th of June, 1767, when the new bridge
was still in the course of construction, and a passage
over the incompleted structure could only be made by
means of some planks laid loosely over the arches, the
vainglorious Catcott, between seven and eight o'clock
in the morning, mounted on horseback, rode over
the risky roadway. He obtained permission to
attempt this dangerous feat by the payment of a
toll of five guineas, in order to gain the distinction,
such as it was, of having been the first person to make
the passage of the new bridge.

Upon another occasion, about two years later, the
pewterer is said to have paid a fee of the same
amount to be allowed to ascend by means of a rope,
at no little risk to his life, to the top of the newly
erected steeple of St. Nicholas' Church, to 205

122 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

feet above the ground, to deposit within the head-
stone, in a cavity made for the purpose, two
pewter plates with inscriptions commemorating his
foolhardy act.

Ever ready to seize upon the salient traits of any
known or notorious person for the exercise of his
satiric pen, Chatterton naturally deemed the pewterer's
foolish actions fit theme for castigation. In his
lines on " Happiness " he thus refers to them and
their doer : —

Catcott is very fond of talk and fame —

His wish, a perpetuity of name ;

Which to procure, a pewter altar's made

To bear his name and signify his trade ;

In pomp burlesqued the rising spire to head,

To tell futurity a pewterer's dead.

Incomparable Catcott, still pursue

The seeming happiness thou hast in view :

Unfinished chimnies, gaping spires complete.

Eternal fame on oval dishes beat ;

Ride four inch bridges, clouded turrets climb.

And bravely die — to live in after time.

Horrid idea 1 If on the rolls of fame

The twentieth century only find thy name,

Unnoticed this, in prose or tagging (flower ?),

He left his dinner to ascend the tower 1

Then, what avails thy anxious spitting pain ?

Thy laugh provoking labours are in vain.

On matrimonial pewter set thy hand ;

Hammer with every power thou canst command ;

Stamp thy whole self, original as 'tis,

To propagate thy whimsies, name, and phiz —

Then, when the tottering spires or chimnies fall,

A Catcott shall remain admired by all.

The pewterer did not act upon the pert young

BRISTOL ELDERS 123

poet's suggestion, and remained a bachelor till the
end of his career. References to some local and
fleeting things in these verses may not be compre-
hendable, but that to riding " four inch bridges "
is, of course, a remembrance of " Poor Tom " in
"King Lear."

During the early interviews this eccentric individual
had with Chatterton, the young poet, so the pewterer
averred, mentioned the names of most of the pieces
afterwards published as the Rowley poems and,
indeed, gave him several of them, evidently without
fee or reward. Eventually, finding that no recom-
pense of any kind followed the presentation of these
writings, and that there was little or no prospect of
them being made public through that channel,
Chatterton became more chary of his treasures, and
for the future Catcott rarely, and only with difficulty,
was able to obtain any more Rowleys, ' ' originals "
or copies.

If Chatterton were sometimes severely sarcastic
in his references to George Catcott it is scarcely to
be wondered at, seeing that the pewterer had acquired
nearly the whole of the Rowley poems from him as
gifts. Certainly, the public is indebted to Catcott
for the erstwhile preservation of the literary treasures,
but when the terms on which he obtained them from
the owner are remembered all honest folks must
thrill with indignation. Not contented with what
he obtained from Chatterton during his life, after his
death he contrived to get from the boy's poor mother
a further supply of his documents, ultimately, under
pressure, rewarding her with the miserable sum of

124 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

five guineas. For a long time he offered the manu-
scripts, as the genuine works of Rowley, from one
probable purchaser to another, until, finally, he dis-
posed of the best part of the collection to Messrs.
Payne & Son, the London booksellers, for the price
of fifty pounds, not one-twentieth of their present
pecuniary value as holographs only. The only time
Chatterton is known to have suggested to George
Catcott that he had a claim on him for the poetical
treasures he had made him custodian of was by the
following hint : —

Mr. G. Catcott,

To the Executors of T. Rowley. Dr.

£ s. d.
To the pleasure received in reading his his-
toric works ... ••• 5 5 o

To the pleasure received in reading his

poetic works 5 5 o

_^I0 10 o

The unfortunate creditor never had the satisfaction
of receipting the account.

Chatterton's hope of seeing his productions put
before the public by the pewterer being frustrated,
and seeing that the man's patronage was worthless,
he informed him, in reply to his persistent pressure
for more " Rowleys," that he had destroyed the
remainder of them. It is certain that some he said
he had possessed, and which there is good reason
to believe had existed, were never seen as far as is
now known. One of these missing pieces was the
tragedy of " The Apostate," a fragment of which

BRISTOL ELDERS 125

Barrett, the surgeon, did obtain, but of that only a
few Hnes have been preserved. The theme of this
drama, the conversion of a Christian to the Jewish
faith, was one seemingly suitable for a being of
Chatterton's temperament, and the loss of the work
is greatly to be regretted.

Another of the missing works, the tragedy of
" Goddwyn," there is some reason for deeming to
have been completed. Such fragments as have been
preserved of this drama render it probable that it
would have been regarded as its author's master-
piece. One of these fragments contains the much
admired, far famed invocation to Freedom, or " Ode
to Liberty," as it is termed in the manuscript. It
is supposed to be chanted by " Chorus," that time-
honoured personage of the ancient stage, as a kind
of response to Edward the Confessor's words in
favour of the Normans, and is in these words : —

When Freedom, drest in blood-stained vest,

To every Knight her war song sung,
Upon her head wild weeds were spread ;
A gory anlace' by her hung.

She danced on the heath ;

She heard the voice of death.
Pale-eyed Affright, his heart of silver hue,
In vain assailed her bosom to acale ; ^
She heard onflemeds the shrieking voice of woe
And sadness, in the owlet, shake the dale.

She shook the pointed spear,

On high she raised her shield,

Her foemen all appear,

And fly along the field,

' Sword. = Freeze. 3 Undismayed.

126 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Power, with head upreaching to the skies,
His spear a sunbeam, and his shield a star,
Alike two flaming meteors roll his eyes,
Stamps with his iron feet and sounds to war.

She sits upon a rock

She bends before his spear,

She rises from the shock,

Wielding her own in air ;
Strong as the thunder doth she drive it on.
Skill closely shrouded, guides it to his crown.
His long sharp spear, his spreading shield is gone,
He falls, and falling roUeth thousands down.
War, gore-faced War, by envy armed, asist (arose),
His fiery helmet, shaking to the air,
Ten bloody arrows in his straining fist.

Amongst George Catcott's acquaintances was a
Mr. William Barrett, a surgeon of some local repute.
This man had long been collecting material for a
" History of Bristol," and the pewterer was not slow
in informing him of the discovery of the Rowley
Manuscripts. The surgeon was anxious to share in
the plunder, and at his request Catcott introduced
Chatterton to him. Sir Herbert Croft, whose
memory must not be too implicitly relied upon,
reports Barrett as saying that he often used to send
for Chatterton " from the Charity School, which is
close to his house, and differ from him in opinion,
on purpose to make him earnest, and to see how
wonderfully his eye would strike fire, kindle and
blaze up," but as all trustworthy witnesses, including
the poet's relatives and earliest biographers, as well
as George Catcott, assert that the surgeon did not
know the lad until he was introduced by the pewterer.

WILLIAM BARRETT.

From an engraving after portrait by Rymsdick.

BRISTOL ELDERS 127

after the appearance of his first Rowley paper about
the " Newe Bridge," in Felix Farley's Journal for
October, 1768, it is certain that for "the Charity
School" in Croft's account should be read " Lambert's
office."

As soon as Barrett heard of Chatterton being in
possession of these ancient Bristolian manuscripts
he sought to enlist him in his service, and after
Catcott had brought the two together they worked
in many respects in conjunction. Consequent upon
making such influential acquaintances for a youth
in his position, Chatterton's ambition, as his sister,
Mrs. Newton, records, increased daily, and " when
in spirits he would enjoy his rising fame," and
" confident of advancement he would promise my
mother and me should be partakers of his success."

Barrett possessed a library well stocked with just
the class of books, pamphlets, and old records
Chatterton required for the construction of his
Rowley romance. To obtain an inspection of this
material and receive the advice and assistance of an
educated man, an experienced antiquary, who could
revise his grammar, deciper ancient Latin inscrip-
tions, and translate old French mottoes, was a
desideratum ; but it called for something in return.
Barrett was not the man to give anything for
nothing. What had the lad to give in return ?
Chatterton was poor, but a poet, living with and
amid the creations of his own busy brain : buoyed
with the poet's eternal hope of some day seeing
the puppets he had brought into being achieve
public notice and consequently immortality. Barrett

128 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

was also ambitious. He desired to become known
and remembered as the h storian of the city of
Bristol. He needed material for the manufacture
of his grand work. Where was it to be obtained?

Chatterton readily undertook to supply what the
surgeon wanted. It was really a contract ; but the
young poet was poor and his patron was well off.
Ancient records were wanted, and every spare hour
devoted to the fabrication of old deeds, plans,
histories, drawings, and descriptions of ecclesiastical
buildings was robbed from the time consecrated to
the creation of poems. As a slight recompense, in
addition to verbal information and advice, Barrett
may have occasionally supplied a coin of the realm,
if only for the purchase of materials for the copies,
or " transcripts," as the Rowleyites term the
Chatterton manuscripts, but from what is known
of the man the amount must have been as small
as circumstances would permit.

It may be deemed asserting too much to declare
positively that Barrett knew how these Rowley
Manuscripts were produced, but it is certain that he
must have had the very strongest suspicions, and that
for fear a censorious public, gauging them by their
true character, would suggest complicity, he carefully
disclaimed any responsibility for their authenticity,
and offered them to "the judicious and candid reader
to form his own opinion." He not only indicated to
his youthful confederate, however, what records he
required, but when he obtained what he had asked
for he garbled and revised the spelling, so as to
give it a more antiquated appearance than it already

BRISTOL ELDERS 129

possessed. Evidence of the way in which he coached
up the lad with his "transcripts," and saved him
from spoiling his " Rowleys " by making palpable
mistakes, is shown by a statement made by the
Rev. S. Seyer in his Chattertonian memoranda.
The historian relates that when the youth first
mentioned to Barrett his earliest known Rowley
poem, now commonly miscalled " The Bristowe
Tragedie," he said he had got " The Execution of
Sir C. Brandon." The surgeon said that was
impossible, as Sir C. Brandon lived long after
Rowley's time. Chatterton persisted that the poem
was in Rowley's writing, but when he next called and
produced his transcript, it was of " The Execution
of Sir C. Bawdin," which Mr. Barrett said was the
right name. All of these transpired matters go to
prove that it was not merely a boy's plot the public
had to disentangle, but a conspiracy of two, one of
whom was an educated man of the world.

People term Chatterton's intimacy with Barrett a
fortunate friendship for the lad, but in more respects
than one it appears to have been a most unlucky
venture for him. The time he could have spent in
the composition of immortal poems had to be wasted
in the fabrication of worthless documents for the
antiquary's requirements. In Barrett's library there
were many works on medical subjects unsuitable for
a lad of Chatterton's age and temperament, and these
works, unearthed by him, or, as is likely, placed at
his disposal by the surgeon, who did give him some
instruction in surgery, exercised a pernicious influence
upon his mind.

9

130 THE THUE CHATTEKTON

It would have been much better for Chatterton's
happiness and reputation had he never known Barrett
or his books. The conversation the already too
precocious lad had to listen to and doubdess take
part in at the surgeon's destroyed the last remnants
of his boyish innocence and faith : the ver}" super-
ficial medical knowledge he obtained there not only
vitiated the tone of his writings but eventually caused
him to build his last hope upon turning that know-
ledge to account, whilst Barrett's refusal to help him
to do so, perhaps from interested motives, precipitated,
even if it did not cause, the final tragedy.

It must be remembered that almost all which is
publicly known of the intercourse between the rich
surgeon and the poor apprentice boy is from infor-
mation furnished by the former. What Barrett
knew and what he chose to tell the world may
have been vers- different things. The youth was
dead when the surgeon spoke, and George Catcott,
the only person who could have thrown any light
on the matter, was to some extent concerned in the
conspiracy, and had to keep silent. What proof is
there that the skilled surgeon, the experienced man
of the world, was the simple, credulous, unsuspicious
dolt biographers represent him to have been, and
the inexperienced boy poet the crafty, mercenar\'
impostor they assume him to have been,^ Barrett's
use of the Rowley Manuscripts, in the work he had
obtained them for, is pointed to as a proof of his
credulity, but what he got from Chatterton was
useful for his purpose in the construction of his
ver}' heavily subscribed for " Histor)- of Bristol."

BRISTOL ELDERS 131

What did the impecunious Chatterton receive for
his contributions to that work ?

That Barrett was no blinded fool and no credulous
benefactor is shown by all his dealings with the lad.
His statement about differing from him in opinion,
purposely to make him earnest and to see how
wonderfully his eye would flash and kindle, is the
remark of a shrewd, observant professional man ;
whilst his repeated although unsuccessful attempts to
induce the lad to take intoxicating drinks, as recorded
in Seyer's memoranda, was not the behaviour of a
friend or of a benefactor.

It should be emphasised in connection with these
remarks that Barrett's aid and collaboration in some
of the Chattertonian manuscripts is proved by their
existence. In the " De Bergham " pedigree, for
instance, of which production more will have to be
said later on, the Latin paragraphs are translated
by the surgeon ; pretty good evidence that he was
conniving at that fabrication with his juvenile accom-
plice ; and if he connived at one, why not at all.-' It
has been shown that he revised and attempted by
orthographical emendations, as did George Catcott
also, to give a more antique appearance to the
" transcripts " than they bore when received from
Chatterton, and the only thing doubtful is how
far the revision went. What the surgeon wanted
the lad supplied. If not the principal culprit Barrett
was certainly an accessory before and after the deed.

It is very probable that the surgeon originally
suggested Chatterton's application to Walpole : that
he aided and advised him in the affair is certain, as

132 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

the first draft of a letter on the subject, in Barrett's
handwriting, for the lad to send to the patroniser
of Macpherson of Ossian fame, is preserved in the
British Museum. If the letter which was finally sent
was not entirely drafted by Barrett, it seems certain
that he was consulted about it and approved of its
contents. Of course it is clear that he knew of the
whole correspondence with Walpole and of its result,
as it was left in his possession. Chatterton was
grateful to the surgeon for surgical and other instruc-
tion, as he acknowledges in his " Will " —

He has my thanks sincere
For all the little knowledge I had here.

If the lad learnt later on to gauge the man's true
character he forbore to let the world know the fact.
It may have been that "honour among thieves"
feeling which restrained him, but in his scathing,
sarcastic piece, " The Exhibition " (see Appendix B),
he treats Barrett, and him only, with respect, his
only reference to him being —

Barrett arose and with a thundering air,
Stretched out his arm, and dignified the chair.

There are good reasons for deeming the scurrilous
" Exhibition " owed its origin to the surgeon's infor-
mation, in which case Chatterton was bound to let
him off gently.

It was suggested by Wilson that the poet, in his
lines on " Happiness," satirised Barrett under the
pseudonym of "Pulvis," but that appears to have

BRISTOL ELDERS 133

been a misunderstanding on the biographer's part.
" Pulvis " is described as a doctor of medicine, and
the surgeon did not acquire the medical degree of
doctor ; nor does the satire suit the man in other
respects.

Most of the documents Barrett obtained from
Chatterton were presumably records of castles,
churches, and other historically noted buildings such
as were specially required for his projected " History
of Bristol," but he received with them a few of the
Rowley poems, including "The Parliament of Sprites "
and the two fragmentary pieces on " The Battle of
Hastings." Transcripts of some of these were also
given to George Catcott. The antiquary was desirous
of including these pieces in his wonderful history,
whilst the pewterer wished to dispose of all the
metrical pieces available in one lot. There was some
friction between the two confederates over the matter,
but eventually they settled their differences by a
division of the spoil : the surgeon retained " The
Parliament of Sprites " and a few shorter pieces, some
of which have disappeared altogether, whilst Catcott
obtained the disposal of the others. The longest
poem reserved for the topographical work duly
appeared therein as " An Enterlude Wroten bie
T. Rowlaie and J. Iscam," Iscam being one of the
several poets unknown outside the Rowley anthology.
The original manuscript of this piece, containing
interesting and suggestive glossarial notes by Chatter-
ton, is now in the British Museum.

The first Chatterton poem on " The Battle of
Hastings," a fragment given to Barrett, was endorsed.

134 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

" Wrote by Turgot, the Monk, a Saxon, in the tenth
century, and translated by Thomas Rowlie, parish
preeste of St. Johns in the city of Bristol in the year
1465," thus ignoring or overlooking the fact that the
battle described was not fought until the latter half
of the eleventh century. Chatterton further endorses
this manuscript thus : " The remainder of the poem
I have not been happy enough to ineet with." This
sentence calls for special notice from the fact that
when Barrett pressed him for the original parchment
on which the poem was supposed to be written,
Chatterton confessed that he had written the poem
himself for a friend. He stated that he had another
piece on the same subject, which was an original, and
that he would bring that to Barrett. After some
considerable time, sufficient to have enabled him to
compose it, the lad presented the antiquary with a
second fragmentary metrical "Battle of Hastings," "by
Turgotus, translated by Rowlie for W. Canynge,
Esq." As this second version was, also, incomplete,
Barrett continually urged him to bring the conclusion,
which he did ultimately. The second " Battle of
Hastings " was in every respect equal to the first, and
was composed in a somewhat similar adaptation of
the Spenserian metre which Chatterton had made.
The construction of both versions was equally modern,
but the orthography was in both cases the pseudo-
antique Rowleyese.

It would be an insult to common sense to believe
that after this disclosure Barrett did not comprehend
the truth. All sensible persons must admit that he
could not have been the educated, experienced pro-

HENRY BURGUM.
Frnin nil old cni^raviiiL; after the pnrtrait by T. Beach.

BRISTOL ELDERS 135

fessional man of the world he was regarded as if he
could ignore the evidence and, as a recent biographer
asserts, could accept the second version of the poem,
as well as a second concluding portion of that, without
suspicion of its authorship. Undoubtedly, Barrett
comprehended the facts, but it was to his interest
to ignore them. To accept the poems as by Chatter-
ton was to destroy the authenticity of a large and
most interesting portion of his forthcoming "History
of Bristol."

Amongst Chatterton's older associates in his native
city was Henry Burgum, a native of Gloucester and
partner of George Catcott in the pewtering business.
He was in very humble circumstances when he first
reached Bristol, but appears to have received some
elementary education there, probably at one of Col-
ston's institutions, although, notwithstanding the
positive assertions of Wilson and his followers, he
was not a pupil at Colston's Hospital. Burgum was
not destitute of laudable ambition, and is said by
Croft to have taught himself Latin and Greek,
although from what is known of the man this seems
very improbable. Certainly he had some musical
knowledge, and during Chatterton's days was sup-
posed to be wealthy. The young poet says of him —

The man has credit and is great on 'Change.

Elsewhere, whilst commending him for some things,
Chatterton is sarcastic about his educational de-
ficiencies, probably only echoing, as was his wont,
what he heard in the Barrett and Catcott cliques.

136 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Later on, when the lad learned to see deeper into
the minds of men, he seems to have repented
somewhat of his satirical remarks on the pewterer,
and in various places, such as in these lines from
" Kew Gardens," defended him from his ill-natured
critics : —

Burgum wants learning — all the lettered throng
Banter his English in a Latin song.

Ye sage Broughtonian,' self-sufficient fools,
Is this the boasted justice of your schools ?
Burgum has parts, parts which will set aside
The laboured acquisitions of your pride.
Uncultivated now his genius lies,
Instruction sees his latent talents rise ;
His gold is bullion, yours debased with brass,
Impressed with Folly's head to make it pass.
But Burgum swears so loud, so indiscreet,
His thunders echo through the listening street.
Ye rigid Christians, formally severe.
Blind to his charities, his oaths you hear ;
Observe his actions — calumny must own
A noble soul is in these actions shown :
Though dark this bright original you paint,
I'd rather be a Burgum than a saint.

With some slight variations the above lines re-
appear in Chatterton's " Epistle to the Reverend Mr.
Catcott," but in that poem Burgum's name is omitted,
a blank being left as if the author had doubts about
using it.

Whatever Burgum's knowledge or ability in other

' The Rev. Thomas Broughton, Vicar of St. Mary Redcliff,
is said to have been a friend and associate of Chatterton at
one time.

BRISTOL ELDERS 137

matters may have been, for music he does appear to
have had not only taste, but to have incurred no in-
considerable expense in indulging it. Sets of music-
books for concerts, with each volume bound in the
most expensive manner in red morocco and stamped
" Henry Burgum " in gold letters on the sides, have
been purchased by collectors, and it has been sug-
gested that the books were for a musical club which
the pewterer entertained at his own house.

Tovey, the historian of Colston, furnishes an
account of the " Grateful Society," established in
1758, in memory of the founder of Colston's Hospital,
and intended for benevolent purposes only, differing
from other Colstonian institutions " in not blending
the elements of party feeling with the pure spirit of
charity." Of this society it is recorded, and the fact
fortifies the good opinion Chatterton had formed of
him, that Henry Burgum was President for 1766.

Henry Burgum, if not an educated man, aspired
to be regarded as one, and, apparently, those men of
position in their professions, whose society he sought,
disliked him, "the presumptuous vulgar fellow" as
Richard Smith called him, and envied him for his
supposed success. Some or one of them was, prob-
ably, not above suggesting to Chatterton that the
man was a good subject for exercising his talents
upon, and the shrewd lad, speedily and correctly
gauging the foibles of the pewterer, laid his plans
accordingly.

Writing in the 1803 edition of Chatterton's works,
Joseph Cottle, an object of Byron's sarcasm, gives
a reasonable account of the history of the " De

138 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Burgham Pedigree," but in again relating the nar-
rative many years later he forgets or ignores his
former story and gives full play to his imagination.
His later, mythical tale is the one biographers appear
fondest of. In his account in 1803 Cottle states that
Chatterton, being under some slight pecuniary obliga-
tions to Burgum, called on him one day, when he was
about sixteen years of age {i.e., about November, 1768),
and told him that he had his (Burgum's) pedigree at
home, and informed him that he was allied to many
distinguished families. Naturally Burgum desired
to see this pedigree, and a few days later Chatterton
presented him with it, and, it is suggested, the
following lines show that the lad's reward was five
shillings : —

. . . What would Burgum give to get a name,
And snatch his blundering dialect from shame !
What would he give to hand his memory down
To time's remotest boundary ? A crown !

Many years after his first statement Joseph Cottle,
whose memory instead of being blunted by age
would seem to have been spurred up to emulate the
legendary deeds of nearly all writers on Chatterton,
furnishes his new generation of readers with the
following fable. Referring the incident to far too
early a period in the poet's life, and relating it with
an amount of circumstantiality as if it had happened
yesterday, and the conversational part had been
taken down on the spot by some system of steno-
graphy, Cottle, after describing Burgum as a vain,
credulous man, fond of notoriety, who had often

BRISTOL ELDERS 139

noticed Chatterton as an acute blue-coat boy, fond
of talking about books, and to whom he had occa-
sionally given a sixpence, proceeds with his story
thus : —

One Saturday afternoon, Chatterton called on Mr. Burgham
in his blue-coat habiliments, and with unusual solemnity, told
him that he had made a discovery.

" What ? " said Mr. B. eagerly.

" Why," replied the young bard, " that you are related in hneal
descent to some of the first nobles of the land."

" I did not know it, Tom," was Mr. Burgham's reply.

"Perhaps not," rejoined Chatterton, "but amongst the trea-
sures which I have obtained from Redcliff Church Muniment
Room, I have found your pedigree, clearly traced from a very
remote period."

" Let me see it," said Mr. Burgham, and two or three days
afterwards the boy presented him with the first portion of the
document, with the De Burgham arms, laboriously painted on
parchment, and bearing all the genuine marks of antiquity.

And this is the way biography is told ! This
by the man whose honest gall was stirred by the
manner in which Barrett and George Catcott had
manipulated Chatterton's manuscripts ! It is needless
to continue Cottle's romancing account, which has
been followed verbatim by many biographers, suffice
to say that the pedigree, given to the pewterer by
Chatterton, is now in the British Museum, and is
one of the most curious specimens of the Rowley
Manuscripts, no more or less genuine than any of
them. It is written in an ordinary school copybook,
and is headed: "An account of the Family of the
De Burghams, from the Norman Conquest to this
time ; collected from original records. Tournament

140 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Rolls, and the Heralds of March and Garter Records,
by T. Chatterton." The Rowley records being in-
complete, according to the lad's account, he had had
to resort to other authorities in order to supply the
deficiencies.

Poor as was the recompense awarded by the pew-
terer for the documentary evidence of his ancestral
kinship with such notabilities as the Earls of North-
umberland, Northampton, and Huntingdon, it was
sufficient to incite Chatterton to manufacture a
" Continuation," in a second copybook, bringing
the family records down to the days of James II.,
nearer than which time it might have been risky to
trace them. Burgum's generosity continued, and he
rewarded Chatterton with a second five shillings
for this further proof of the ancestral dignity of his
family. The lad's feelings were suppressed for the
time, but in his so-called "Will," written many months
later, he expressed in words, what he had hitherto only
thought, in the lines already quoted.

It is scarcely necessary to say that this pedigree,
although partially compiled from real authorities with
references to historical personages, was an entire
fabrication, as far as it related to any known
ancestors of the pewterer. There was really a de
Bergham family which had flourished in Northumber-
land for centuries, and there were some such heraldic
works and documents as Chatterton recites, but the
whole account which his deft pen and shrewd brain
made quite genuine-looking enough for a man of
Burgum's calibre was entirely spurious. It may be
pointed out that the various coats-of-arms he drew

BRISTOL ELDERS 141

to illustrate the Bergham alliances were wrong, and,
indeed, impossible in their details, and must have
been executed before he had been long under the
guidance of his companion, Thomas Palmer, in such
matters. In order to explain how the noble North
Country family of de Berghams had migrated to the
west and had fallen in the social scale down to the
humble, southern Burgums, the poet makes a John
Burgham, Esq., sell his estates in the northern
counties and purchase others in Gloucestershire.
His grandson spent " his fortune in the vain but
magnanimous endeavour to surpass all the nobles of
the land " in magnificent show, at the fetes held
in the honour of Queen Elizabeth's accession.
Henceforth the family dwindled into insignificance.
What after all may be deemed the most noteworthy
point in connection with this fabricated pedigree is that
Chatterton introduced into the second part, or " Con-
tinuation," one of his own mediaeval poems, as found
amongst the Rowley Manuscripts. " The Romaunte
of the Cnyghte," as he styled it, is produced as the
composition of John de Burgham, with the remark,
" To give you an idea of the poetry of the age, take
the following piece wrote by him about 1320." As
the pewterer was scarcely likely to be able to read
the lines, or even the title to them, in their Row-
leyese dialect, Chatterton kindly furnished a transla-
tion into modern English, as "The Romance of the
Knight." The pseudo- Rowley text is far finer than
the translation, which probably was the original version,
but "The Romance of the Knight" is not without
notable lines. It was apparently written before the

142 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

glow of boyhood, with its faith in Knight- Errantry still
a vital force, had faded. He speaks of " the worthy
Knight" upon "a foaming steed," with "his sword
of giant make," going forth " to seek for glory and
renown." Unhappily when all else is fresh and pure
two discordant lines are inserted, as if by an after-
thought, or in after days : —

Women and cats, if you compulsion use,
The pleasure which they die for will refuse.

It has already been pointed out that Barrett aided
in the production of the de Burgham pedigree in so
far that he translated the Latin epitaphs and the
old French mottoes used in it, as well as various
sentences in those languages, the whole of which are
still in existence in the surgeon's handwriting. Surely
this fact must have been made known to the pewterer,
and must have satisfied him as to the authenticity
of the documents.

Although Burgum lived in good style and was
deemed to be wealthy, he ultimately failed in business.
His partner, Catcott, was dreadfully enraged and
averred the pewterer had ruined him. Catcott's
nephew, Richard Smith, after describing Burgum as
" a presumptuous, vulgar fellow, who boasted of his
ancestors," accuses him of having robbed his partner
Catcott of all his fortune, amounting to three thousand
pounds. After the failure of the pewtering business
Catcott had to accept a minor position in the Bristol
Library, given him as " the patron of Chatterton ! "
What became of Burgum is unknown, but at the

BRISTOL ELDERS 143

sale of his effects there was sold a fine portrait of
him by Simmons, representing him in a Court dress,
and holding a music-book. Ultimately this portrait
came into the possession of Horace Walpole, who
secured everything he could obtain connected with
Chatterton, prompted by other motives than admira-
tion for his young correspondent.

George Catcott lived with his brother, the Rev.
Alexander Catcott, Vicar of Temple Church, Bristol,
in the vicarage close by the fine old church. Soon
after he had made the acquaintance of Chatterton,
George Catcott presented the young poet to his
brother, and for a time Chatterton and the Vicar
were on friendly terms. The poet was introduced
to, or gradually became acquainted with, several other
members of the family, and was received into their
circle. There was Thomas Catcott, brother of
George, who held an official position in the Bristol
Custom House ; their sister, who was married to
the senior Richard Smith, brother of Chatterton's
friend William and of the unfortunate Peter. This
sister was mother to the second Richard Smith,
who, like his father, was a surgeon. Other relatives
and friends were in the circle of Chatterton's ac-
quaintance. " Aunt Martha " took a great liking to
the young lad, although Richard Smith records
she said he " was a sad wag of a boy, and always
upon some joke or another." Ultimately they
fell out, and the old lady reprimanding the poet
severely for something, he wrote her a letter enclosing
her coat-of-arms, surrounded by a garter and sur-
mounted by a floral crest, coloured gules, with the

144 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

motto, " The Rose of Virginity." This piece of
boyish impudence seems to have cooled the old
maiden lady's liking for the lad.

In the meantime, it was not all smooth sailing with
the Vicar, whose ideas and ways were as opposite
to Chatterton's as it was possible for them to be.
At first they had some friendly intercourse, and
Chatterton presented the clergyman with an "original
Rowley," a romantic history of the Temple Church.
This was a scrap of disfigured parchment, about five
inches square, with some nearly illegible writing upon
it, so that it had to be explained by the inevitable
transcript in Chatterton's own handwriting. The
original passed into the hands of Barrett, for use
in his " History of Bristol," and is now in the British
Museum, whilst the copy in Chatterton's calligraphy
is preserved in the Temple Church. As with all
the Rowley productions which passed through
Barrett's hands, the transcript of the manuscript
has been greatly revised in the passage. The words
have been manipulated in a way to give them what
the sapient surgeon deemed a more antique appear-
ance, by doubling many of the consonants and
adding a final " e " to many of the suffixes, quite
irrespective of their propriety there ; even as most
of the many pseudo-antiques of that period were
treated by their authors, editors, or fabricators.

The Rev. Alexander Catcott, son of the Rev.
Alexander Stopford Catcott, master of the Bristol
Grammar School, is considered to have been the
most highly cultured of Chatterton's Bristol acquaint-
ances. His piety was testified to by John Wesley,

BRISTOL ELDERS 145

but he was best known to contemporaries by a
"Treatise on the Deluge," a work now utterly
neglected, and but for Chatterton's references to it
almost unknown. It has been declared that the
Vicar was noted for his Hebrew scholarship, but
that qualification belonged to his father and not
to him. The Vicar of Temple Church had a great
dislike to poetry, believing, from examples amongst
his own relatives, that its tendency was evil. He
was greatly annoyed at his brother George wasting
his time over the Rowley Manuscripts, and George
believed that if the Rowley poems had got into
Alexander's hands before their publication he would
have destroyed them. Naturally a man with such
ideas could not agree for long with one of
Chatterton's temperament. The ill-assorted pair
soon started squabbling. The poet wrote a ver-
sified " Epistle to the Rev. A. Catcott," begun
on December 6, 1769, explaining the cause of its
composition in the following note : —

December 20, 1769. — Mr. Catcott will be pleased to
observe that I admire many things in his learned remarks.
This poem is an innocent effort of poetical vengeance, as
Mr. Catcott has done me the honour to criticise my trifles. I
have taken great poetical liberties, and what I dislike in verse
possibly deserves my approbation in the plain prose of truth.
The many admirers of Mr. Catcott may, on perusal of this,
rank me as an enemy : but I am indifferent in all things ; I
value neither the praise nor the censure of the multitude.

Amid much that was true and to the purpose,
and merely satirised in a permissible manner the
known foibles of the Vicar and the absurdities of his

10

146 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

" Treatise on the Deluge," there were interwoven
strong personalities that the clergyman could not
but resent, and was scarcely likely to overlook,
especially coming from one so young and, in the
Vicar's ideas, so beneath him in education and
station. The " Epistle " begins thus forcibly : —

What strange infatuations rule mankind !
How narrow are our prospects, how confined !
With universal vanity possessed,
We fondly think our own ideas best ;
Our tottering arguments are ever strong ;
We're always self-sufficient in the wrong.
What philosophic sage of pride austere
Can lend conviction an attentive ear ?
What pattern of humility and truth
Can bear the jeering ridicule of youth ?

As all have intervals of ease and pain,
So all have intervals of being vain :
But some of folly never shift the scene,
Or let one lucid moment intervene.

'Tis not enough you think your system true,
The busy world would have you prove it too.

Would you the honour of a priest mistrust,
An excommunication proves him just.

Could Catcott from his better sense be drawn
To bow the knee to Baal's sacred lawn ?

Yet we must reverence sacerdotal black,
And saddle all his faults on nature's back ;
But hold, there's solid reason to revere —
His lordship has six thousand pounds a year :

BRISTOL ELDERS 147

Whilst the poor curate in his rusty gown
Trudges unnoticed through the dirty town.
If God made order, order never made
These nice distinctions in the preaching trade.

Yet in these horrid forms salvation Hves,

These are religion's representatives ;

Yet to these idols must we bow the knee . . .

But sure religion can produce at least

One minister of God — one honest priest.

Search nature o'er, procure me, if you can,
The fancied character, an honest man ;
(A man of sense, not honest by constraint,
For fools are canvass, living but in paint).
To Mammon or to Superstition slaves,
All orders of mankind are fools or knaves.

Think for yourself, for all mankind are free :
We need not inspiration how to see.
If Scripture contradictory you find
Be orthodox, and own your senses blind.
How blinded are their optics, who aver,
What inspiration dictates cannot err.
Whence is this boasted inspiration sent.
Which makes us utter truths we never meant ?

What Moses tells us might perhaps be true.
As he was learned in all the Egyptians knew.
But to assert that inspiration's given
The copy of philosophy in heaven.
Strikes at religion's root, and fairly fells
The awful terrors of ten thousand hells.

Attentive search the Scriptures, and you'll find
What vulgar errors are with truths combined . . .
But if from God one error you admit,
How dubious is the rest of Holy Writ!

148 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Confute with candour, where you can confute,
Reason and arrogance but poorly suit . . .
With modest diffidence new schemes indite,
Be not too positive, though in the right.
What man of sense would value vulgar praise ?

Though youthful ladies, who by instinct scan
The Natural Philosophy of Man,
Can every reason of your work repeat,
As sands in Africa retain the heat.

Some may with seeming arguments dispense,
Tickling your vanity to wound your sense.

But my objections may be reckoned weak,
As nothing but my mother tongue I speak;
Else would I ask, by what immortal Power
All Nature was dissolved as in an hour?
How, when the earth acquired a solid state,
And rising mountains saw the waves abate,
Each particle of matter sought its kind,
All in a strata [sic] regular combined ?
When instantaneously the liquid heap
Hardened to rocks, the barriers of the deep,
Why did not earth unite a stony mass ?

'Twas the Eternal's fiat, you reply;
And who will give eternity the lie ?
I own the awful truth, that God made all,
And by His fiat worlds and systems fall.

Some fancy God is what we nature call,
Being itself material, all in all ;
The fragments of the Deity we own.
Is vulgarly as various matter- known.
No agents could assist creation's birth :
We trample on our God, for God is earth.
'Twas past the power of language to confute
This latitudinary attribute.

BRISTOL ELDERS 149

After all these bewildering theoretical notions, as
much intended to display his own deep reading as to
refute his reverend friend's want of logic, the lad
suddenly pulls himself up, and descending from the
heights of philosophical and theological speculations,
returns to earth with these more sober thoughts : —

Restrain, O Muse, thy unaccomplished lines,
Fling not thy saucy satire at divines ;
This single truth thy brother bards must tell —
Thou hast one excellence of railing well.

Another invocation, this time to Learning, and
the young poet resumes his assault upon his clerical
friend : —

The man I blame
Owns no superior in the paths of fame.
In springs, in mountains, stratas [^sicj, mines and rocks,
Catcott is every notion orthodox.
If to think otherwise you claim pretence,
You're a detested heretic in sense.
But oh ! how lofty your ideas soar,
In showing wondering cits the fossil store !
The ladies are quite ravished, as he tells
The short adventures of the pretty shells ;
Miss Biddy sickens to indulge her touch,
Madam more prudent thinks 'twould seem too much.
The doors fly open, instantly he draws
The sparry load, and — wonders of applause.
The full-dressed lady sees with envying eye
The sparkle of her diamond pendants die ;
Sage natural philosophers adore
The fossil whimsies of the numerous store.

Where is the priestly soul of Catcott now ?
See what a triumph sits upon his brow 1

— ■s^'-^TiinfwKiais ■?if"\\

150 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

And can the poor applause of things like these,
Whose souls and sentiments are all disease,
Raise little triumphs in a man like you,
Catcott, the foremost of the judging few ?

Chatterton winds up his lengthy Epistle by com-
paring the clergyman's triumphant receptions to view
his samples of the structure of the earth with the
coarse applause his brother George gets at Llewellin's
ale-house from his vulgar admirers : —

So at Llewellin's your great brother sits,
The laughter of his tributary wits.
Ruling the noisy multitude with ease,
Empties his pint, and splutters his desires.

Elsewhere the lad refers in similar terms to George
Catcott's behaviour in his favourite public-house : —

Or than his wild, antique and spluttering brother
Loves in his ale-house chair to drink and pother.

After this onslaught it is scarcely to be wondered
that the Rev. Alexander Catcott had had quite
enough of Chatterton and his verses, the trend of
which must have fully confirmed his views of the evil
influence of poetry. Chatterton's lines are on a par
with the best of their style and period and were
evidently not intended to be spiteful. The boy
thought and acted as a boy, and deemed he was
quite within his rights in giving blow for blow, and
that, the fight over, they should shake hands and be
friends. The parson had begun the contest by his
criticism on the poet, who then had his fling at the

BRISTOL ELDERS 151

parson, and considered both should now forgive and
forget. The reverend gentleman, not unnaturally,
took a different view of the matter, and henceforth
his house was closed to the saucy young lad.

When Chatterton discovered that the insulted priest
did not take the lenient view of his sarcastic lines he
thought he should have taken, and that his house was
no longer open to him, and, probably, heard through
third parties the harsh remarks his verses had pro-
voked, he seems to have felt somewhat sore himself,
and in some of his hastily written pieces he did not
hesitate about giving vent to his feelings. In his
poem of " Kew Gardens " are several uncomplimentary
references to Alexander Catcott, and in his unpub-
lished piece, "The Exhibition" (see Appendix B,
page 297), he returns to the charge, and in still
stronger terms : —

This truth, this mighty truth — if truth can shine

In the smooth polish of a laboured line —

Catcott by sad experience testifies ;

And who shall tell a sabled priest he lies ?

Bred to the juggling of the specious band,

Predestinated to adorn the land,

The selfish Catcott ripened to a priest,

And wore the sable livery of the Beast.

By birth to prejudice and whim allied,

And heavy with hereditary pride,

He modelled pleasure by a fossil rule,

And spent his youth to prove himself a fool ;

Buried existence in a lengthened cave,

And lost in dreams whatever Nature gave.

To the second month's number of the Town and
Country Magazine for 1770 Chatterton contributed an

152 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

elegy entitled " February. " It contains some good
stanzas, such as : —

Now infant authors, maddening for renown,
Extend the plume, and hum about the stage,
Procure a benefit, amuse the town,
And proudly ghtter in a title-page.

Now Foote, a looking-glass for all mankind,
Applies his wax to personal defects ;
But leaves untouched the image of the mind,
His art no mental quality reflects.

We have discovered the manuscript of an earlier
draft of this poem and deem it interesting to see
how the lad revised and improved some of the lines,
and rejected others, before obtaining publication of
his work. To reproduce all his corrections and altera-
tions here would be idle labour, but the following
cancelled stanzas may be quoted from what was
originally styled "An Elegy on the Demise of a
Great Genius," the genius in this transcript being
" Laurence," although the published version substi-
tutes " Johnson " : —

Ye matrons, happy in the joyous twang
Which erst the Grecian Bellman, Stentor used,
No more resound the Patriot's harangue,
Or tell the world how Loyalty's abused.

When, in this venerable Gothic Hall,
Where bulky Aldermen at sessions snore,
A worthy Placeman did on Freedom call —
Was lost in catcalls, kickt, and heard no more.

BRISTOL ELDERS 153

And those, inimitable Bard, whose brain
Produces every moon its fulsome slime,
Lament a brother bard in kindred strain ;
And sing his genius in prosaic rhyme.

Very few of his modern or acknowledged effusions
were intended for publication, being thrown off in a
passing mood of enthusiasm, or annoyance, to satisfy
the transient feeling, or to hand over to some person
concerned. It is not fair to compare them with
the Rowley poems, the carefully embodied visions of
his most exalted aspirations, but in the published
version of the foregoing elegy is seen a poem cor-
rected and revised for publication.

The absurd way in which Chatterton was ill-treated
and misunderstood by his contemporaries is well
exemplified by the allusions to him in Bryant's
" Observations." In this work the author does not see
how it is possible for the Rowley poems to have
been written by a charity boy, who cannot refer to
"any writer of consequence which [«V] he had read,"
although he admitted the lad "was conversant in
[szc^ Milton, Shakespeare, and Thomson," but
" beyond these he does not seem to have aspired."
Certainly, this sapient critic admits those who did not
deem Chatterton a genius were influenced by the
belief that he " had not the least insight into the
learned languages," as far as they knew, " through
which knowledge is conveyed." " It may be said,"
Bryant is careful to remark, "that some of these
[i.e., judges] were of no rank in life ; nor had them-
selves any pretences to science ; . . . they might not
be able to comprehend the genius of a Boyle, or a

154 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Newton," yet, in the opinion of Bryant, " we may
suppose them to be judges of the abilities of a Charity
boy ; of one who was upon the same level as them-
selves." This is logic with a vengeance ! What a
judgment for "a learned antiquary"! as his contem-
poraries dubbed him. A charity boy could not be
a genius because charity boys did not comprehend
one of their own rank being a genius !

The contempt Chatterton had generally for his
fellow-citizens is scarcely to be wondered at when
the crass stupidity of those he came in contact with
is seen. Happily, not all with whom he had dealings
were so deficient in common sense and perception as
were the majority. Amongst the older associates of
the poet in Bristol, who have not yet been referred
to, was one who appears to have exercised much
influence upon his reasoning faculties, if the bard's
various poetic allusions to him may be read literally.
This was Michael Clayfield, a distiller.

Soon after the loss of his friend Phillips — that is
to say, towards the close of 1769 — Chatterton made
the acquaintance of Clayfield, who, apparently, was
the only disinterested man amongst the lad's grown
associates. The poet appears to have introduced
himself to Clayfield, according to the tenor of his
verses, upon the occasion of Phillips's death, and writes
as if he were addressing himself to a friendly pro-
tector of the deceased schoolmaster : —

To Clayfield, long renowned the Muses' friend,
Presuming on his goodness, this I send ;

which " this " refers to one of Chatterton's poems

BRISTOL ELDERS 155

upon Phillips. Changing his mode of address from
the third to the second person, he proceeds : —

Unknown to you, to Tranquility and Fame,
In this address perhaps I am to blame.
This rudeness let necessity excuse,
A grateful tribute to a shadowed Muse.

Alluding to the dreadful rumour which has reached
him of his friend's death, he beseeches the " generous
Clayfield " to allay his agony by letting him know
the truth, concluding his versified communication of
October 30th with the words : —

Forgive my boldness, think the urgent cause ;
And who can bind necessity with laws ?
I end, th' admirer of your noble parts.
You, friend to genius, sciences, and arts.

This epistle appears to have opened the way to
a strong and enduring friendship between Chatterton
and Clayfield. Mrs. Newton states that the distiller
lent her brother several books on astronomy, and in
Clayfield's library the lad was able to read the works
of Pope, Thomson, and other poets of his own century.
It is true Dr. Glynn, a very doubtful authority on
any matter connected with Chatterton, states that
when he questioned Clayfield on the subject the
distiller, who, if he did converse with Glynn at all,
was probably disgusted by the man's language and
anxious to get away quickly, informed him that he only
remembered lending the lad Martin's " Philosophical
Grammar," and a volume of the same writer's philo-
sophy. Be the truth what it may in the matter, Clayfield

156 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

certainly appreciated the genius and temperament of
his youthful friend, and his kindness elicited several
grateful remarks from Chatterton. In his unruly
" Epistle to the Rev. A. Catcott " the lad speaks of
his views on the clergyman's speculations on the
Deluge and structure of the earth as coinciding with
those of the distiller : —

But Clayfield censures, and demonstrates too,
Your theory is certainly untrue ;
On reason and Newtonian rules he proves
How distant your machine from either moves.

Mrs. Newton is scarcely likely to have been
mistaken in this matter of the books, as she adds that
not only did Mr. Clayfield lend her brother " many
books on astronomy," but that Mr. Cator, another
Bristol acquaintance of his, " likewise assisted him
with books on that subject;" which subject he applied
himself to the study of, and made various references
to in his latest verses.

It is good evidence of the affectionate esteem in
which Clayfield was held by the youth, that in the
so-called "Will" of April 14, 1770, the only person
besides his own near relatives to whom Chatterton
alludes with unalloyed friendliness is the distiller.
Of him he says therein, " I leave Mr. Clayfield the
sincerest thanks my gratitude can give ; and I will
and direct that whatever any person may think the
pleasure of reading my works worth, they immediately
pay their own valuation to him, since it is then
become a lawful debt to me, and to him as my
executor in this case."

CHAPTER VIII

A PATRON WANTED ■

FINDING no prospect of getting his Rowley
works published through the medium of his
Bristol associates, Chatterton determined to seek in
London for some one able and willing to assist him.
Surely a more appreciative audience could be found
in the metropolis than existed in a provincial city ?
Probably one of his elder acquaintances advised him
where to apply. He began his quest by an application
to James Dodsley, the well-known bookseller and
publisher. On the 21st of December, 1768, he sent
him the following tentative communication : —

Sir, — I take this Method to acquaint you, that I can procure
copys of several Ancient Poems ; and an Interlude, perhaps
the oldest dramatic Piece extant; wrote by one Rowley, a
Priest in Bristol, who lived in the Reign of Henry VI. and
Edward IV. If these Pieces will be of Service to you, at your
Command copys shall be sent to you, by

V most obedient Serv',

DeBe.

Please direct for D. B. to be left with Mr. Tho Chat-
terton, Redclift Hill, Bristol.

For Mr. J. Dodsley, Bookseller, Pall Mall, London.

It is unknown what reception this communication

]57

158 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

received at the hands of Dodsley, and the biographers,
not having a reply before them, surmise that none
was ever sent. This is most improbable. In a
letter of Chatterton's to his relation, Stephens, of
Salisbury, quoted later, he says, "My next corre-
spondent of note is Dodsley, whose collection of
modern and antique poems are in every library ; " and
on the 15 th of February following the above com-
munication he is found again writing to the publisher,
as if in reply to a request for further particulars : —

Sir, — Having intelligence that the Tragedy of ".lEUa" was
in being, after a long and laborious search, I was so happy
as to attain a sight of it. Struck with the beauties of it I
endeavoured to obtain a copy to send you : but the present
possessor absolutely denies to give me one, unless I give him
a Guinea for a consideration. As I am unable to procure such
a sum, I made search for another copy, but unsuccessfully.
Unwilling such a beauteous Piece should be lost, I have made
bold to apply to you : — several Gentlemen of learning who have
seen it, join virith me in praising it. — I am far from having any
mercenary views for myself in this affair, and, was I able, would
print it on my own risque. It is a perfect Tragedy, the plot
clear, the language spirited, and the Songs (interspersed in
it) are flowing, poetical, and elegantly simple. The similes
judiciously applied, and though wrote in the reign of Henry
VI., not inferior to many of the present age. If I can procure a
copy with or without the gratification, it shaU immediately be
sent to you. The motive that actuates me to do this, is, to
convince the World that the Monks (of whom some have so
despicable an opinion) were not such blockheads, as generally
thought, and that good poetry might be wrote in the dark days
of superstition, as well as in these more enlightened ages.
An immediate answer will oblige me. I shall not receive your
favour as for myself, but as your agent.
I am, Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

T. Chatterton.

A PATRON WANTED 159

PS. — My reason for concealing my name, was lest my
Master (who is now out of town) should see my letters and
think I neglected his business. .

Direct for me on Redclift Hill.

As a further postscript Chatterton, with reference
to the tragedy, enclosed the speech of .^lla to his
army, and makes the statement that " the whole
contains about one thousand lines." The piece as
now printed contains twelve hundred and fifty. He
adds, "If it should not suit you, I should be obliged
to you if you would calculate the expenses of printing
it, as I will endeavour to publish it by subscription on
my own account."

Not only does this letter read as if Dodsley had
replied to the poet's first communication, but seems to
point to the fact that some intervening correspondence,
in which the tragedy of " ^Ella " had been mentioned,
had taken place. His explanation, apparently, in
answer to a question as to why he had used initials
only is exceedingly simple and, combined with his
confession of his inability to procure the sum of a
guinea, proves that, despite all his display of worldly
knowledge in some matters, his experience of human
nature was sadly defective. That other corre-
spondence occurred, although of an unsatisfactory
character, is rendered probable by the fact that
Chatterton called upon Dodsley soon after his
arrival in London.

With man's usual uncharitableness, it is generally
accepted as certain that the boy poet desired to obtain
the specified guinea for himself, and little enough it
would have been for a copy, an autograph copy, of

160 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

his masterpiece, but it has been overlooked that he
had presented the manuscript of it to George Catcott,
and, knowing what that gentleman's grasping nature
was as regards Rowley Manuscripts, it seems more than
probable that he it was who required the guinea for
a transcript of the whole poem. Why should it be
assumed that the lad had the " mercenary views " he
repudiated, when it is known that he was most
desirous at any risk or cost to get his Rowley works
published, and what necessity was there for him to
assert, " If I can procure a copy, with or without the
gratification, it shall immediately be sent to you," if
he did not mean it ?

It was a terrible mishap for Chatterton that Dodsley
did not undertake the publication of "^lla," as, take it
for all in all, it is the finest of the Rowley composi-
tions, and its issue would have brought the subject of
the pseudo-medieeval pieces before the literary world
ere it was too late for its author's purpose. Had the
publisher applied to been Robert Dodsley, as some
of the biographers appear to fancy it was, and as even
Chatterton may have thought, the result might have
been different. James was the brother of the well-
known deceased Robert Dodsley, who had not
only been a highly successful dramatist and poetic
writer, a successful publisher, the faithful friend of
Dr. Johnson, and the editor ot a valuable collection
of Old English dramas, but had once been only a poor
contemned apprentice himself.

The result of all this was that with another dis-
appointment to overshadow his young heart and
mind, Chatterton had to seek anew for a patron

HC'RACE WALl'OLE, EARL OF ORFGRD.
From an old engraving.

A PATRON WANTED 161

to introduce his work to the public. Nothing could
be effected by the penniless lad without the aid
of some powerful and friendly personage, able as
well as willing to assist him. Where was such
a person to be found ?

In the first edition of his " Anecdotes of Painting "
published in 1762, when Chatterton was only ten
years old, Horace Walpole had given an account,
very inaccurately, it must be confessed, of an ancient
manuscript relating to Redcliff Church, a copy of
which record had been read before the London
Society of Antiquaries by Mr. Theobald, in 1736.
This quaint old document gives a description of "a
new sepulchre, well gilt with golde and a civer
thereto," together with an account of certain curious
embellishments, all presented to the church in 1470
by " Maister Canynge." Amongst the adornments
are specified : —

Item, An image of God Almighty rising out of the same
sepulchre, with all the ordinance that 'longeth thereto. . .

Item, Thereto 'longeth Heaven, made of timber and stain'd
clothes.

Item, Hell made of timber, and ironwork thereto, with Divels
to the number of 13.

Item, 4 Knights armed, keeping the sepulchre, with their
weapons in their hands. . . .

Item, 4 payr of Angels' wings for 4 Angels, made of timber
and well painted.

Item, The Fadre, the Crowne and Visage, the Ball with a
Cross upon it, well gilt with fine Gould.

Item, The Holy Ghosht coming out of Heaven into the
sepulchre.

Item, 'Longeth to the 4 Angels 4 Chevelers [Wigs ?] .

There is no doubt that Walpole's "Anecdotes"

11

162 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

came under the notice of Chatterton, and the
probability is that Barrett either lent it to him,
or drew his attention to it, in connection with his
projected " History." The reference to his hero,
Canynges, whose name in relation to Redcliff Church
must have been much in the lad's mind, could not fail
to attact his attention. Whilst he was cogitating
upon his failure with Dodsley, and upon whom next
to approach, the remembrance or sight of this record
would naturally direct his thoughts to Walpole, even if
Barrett, who afterwards published Walpole's MS. in
his " History of Bristol," had not already called his
attention to him.

Here was the very man. Not only was Walpole
a man of wealth — and his plurality of sinecures was
a scandal even for those days — but he was a literary
man with presumedly a taste for mediaeval lore, with
a knowledge of Redcliff Church and " Maister
Canynge," and, if his latest assertion were credible,
the author of ' ' The Castle of Otranto, " a work of fiction
originally offered to a gullible public as "a translation
by William Marshall, from an Italian MS. found
in the library of an ancient Catholic family in the
North of England, and printed at Naples, in the black
letter, in the year 1520." {Vide Appendix C, p. 305.)

Here seemed to be the man Chatterton needed —
the man who would sympathise with him in his
desire to present the Rowley romance to the world ;
who, for self-evident reasons, would not be too curious
in his investigations into the origin of the work ; and
who would, doubtless, be glad to have the honour
of ushering such a work into publicity and fame.

A PATRON WANTED 163

The result of his inquiry might prove of momentous
import to Chatterton and affect his whole future
career ; it was, consequently, necessary to proceed with
circumspection. That he acted entirely upon his own
initiative from the first is very doubtful, but that he
did consult Barrett during the correspondence is
certain. Having settled upon addressing Walpole
upon the matter of Rowley, Chatterton wrote the
following letter to him : —

Sir, — Being versed a little in Antiquitys, I have met with
several curious Manuscripts, among which the following may
be of Service to you, in any future Edition of your truly enter-
taining " Anecdotes of Painting." In correcting the mistakes (if
any) in the Notes, you will greatly obHge,

Your most humble Servant,

Thomas Chatterton.
Bristol, March 25th, Corn Street.

Enclosed in this short preliminary communication
was a lengthy and curious manuscript on " The Ryse
of Peyncteynge yn Englande, wroten by T. Rowleie,
1469, for Mastre Canynge." There is no need to
reprint this strange history of English painting from
the time of the ancient " Brytonnes," who " dyd
depycte themselves, yn sondrie wyse, of the fourmes
of the Sonne and Moone wythe the hearbe Woade,"
down to the days of a man, unknown to history, who
painted the walls of Master Canynges's house, "where
bee the Councilmen at dinner"; "a most daintie
and feety ve performaunce nowe ycrasede beeynge done
ynne M. CC.I." This manuscript wound up with a
promise of a further instalment hereafter. Probably
the most suggestive items in the whole matter were

1&4 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

these Notes explanatory of the positions and characters
of T. Rowlie and Mastre Canynge, two persons
referred to in the manuscript : —

2. T. Rowlie was a Secular Priest of St. John's in this City ;
his Merit as a Biographer, Historiographer, is great ; as a Poet
still greater : some of his Pieces would do honor to Pope : and
the Person under whose Patronage they may appear to the
World will lay the Englishman, the Antiquary, and the Poet
under an eternal Obligation.

3. Canynge is described as the Founder of that noble
Gothic Pile, St. Mary RedcUft Church in this City ; the Maecenas
of his time ; one who could happily blend the Poet, the Painter,
the Priest, and the Christian, perfect in each : a friend to all in
distress, an honour to Bristol, and a Glory to the Church.

I have the lives of several eminent Carvers, Painters, &c., of
Antiquity, but as they all relate to Bristol, may not be of Service
in a General Historic ; if they may be acceptable to you, they
are at your Service.

These elucidatory Notes are, of course, by Chatter-
ton, and are remarkable for the suggestions they
proffer Walpole that he may have the honour of earn-
ing the eternal gratitude of various prominent per-
sons by becoming the Patron, the Maecenas, of the
Rowley Romance and also of becoming "a Glory
to the Church." Of course, Chatterton was unaware
that Walpole, however desirous he might be of
acquiring literary honour as a patron, was one of
the meanest of men ; was a professed regicide
(although never losing an opportunity of worshipping
royalties in person), and never missed a chance of
scoffing at everybody and everything. These cir-
stances are unknown to, or have been ignored by,
biographers of Chatterton ; as have also the now

A PATRON WANTED 166

proved facts that the " Honourable " gentleman was
also an inveterate liar and a malicious forger. Had
the boy poet known of these, or even some of these,
circumstances he might have forborne from writing
to Horace Walpole, or of insinuating to him his
chance of becoming the Maecenas of his time and "a
Glory to the Church."

In another of his Notes to this " History of
Painting" Chatterton referred to a certain John,
second Abbot of St. Augustin's Minster, who, besides
being the first English painter in oils, "was the
greatest Poet of the Age in which he lived ; he
understood the learned languages. Take a Specimen
of his Poetry, 'On King Richard I,'" says the lad,
proceeding to quote some lines of Rowleyese, which,
translated into English, are as follows : —

Heart of lion ! shake thy sword,

Bare thy murdering bloodstained hand,
Dash whole armies to the Queede [devil],

Work thy will with raging brand.
Barons here on 'broidered seats,

Fight in furs against the cale [cold] ;
Whilst thou in thundering arms

Workest for whole cities' bale [woe].
Heart of lion ! sound the trump !

Sound it through the inner lands ;
Fear flies sporting in the cry ;

In thy banner Terror stands."

In acknowledgment of Chatterton's short note and
its enclosure Walpole, evidently deeming his corre-
spondent was "a gentleman of elegant leisure," sent
the following communication, although, trusting it
would never turn up against him with its damning

166 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

contents, he afterwards asserted that he had never
received the note or its enclosures : —

Arlington Street, March 28, 1769.

Sir, — I cannot but think myself singularly obliged by a
gentleman with whom I have not the pleasure of being
acquainted, when I read your very curious and kind letter,
which I have this minute received. I give you a thousand
thanks for it and for the very obliging offer you make me of
communicating your MSS. to me. What you have already
sent me is very valuable and full of information ; but,
instead of correcting you, Sir, you are far more able to correct
me. I have not the happiness of understanding the Saxon
language and without your learned notes, should not have been
able to comprehend Rowley's text.

As a second edition of my "Anecdotes" was published last
year, I must not flatter myself that a third will be wanted soon ;
but I shall be happy to lay up any notices you will be so good
as to extract for me, and send me at your leisure ; for as it is
uncertain when I may use them, I would by no means borrow
and detain your MSS.

Give me leave to ask you where Rowley's poems are to be
found ? I should not be sorry to print them ; or at least a
specimen of them, if they have never been printed.

The Abbot John's verses, that you have given me, are wonder-
ful for their harmony and spirit ; though there are some
words I do not understand. You do not point out exactly the
time when he lived, which I wish to know ; as I suppose it was
long before John Eyck's discovery of oil-painting. If so, it
confirms what I had guessed, and have hinted in my "Anec-
dotes," that oil-painting was known here much earlier than that
discovery or revival.

I will not trouble you with more questions now, Sir, but flatter
myself from the humanity and politeness you have already
shown me that you will sometimes give me leave to consult
you. I hope, too, you will forgive the simplicity of my direction
as you have favoured me with none other.

I am, Sir, your much obliged
and obedient humble servant,

HoR. Walpole.

PS. — Be so good as to direct to Mr. Walpole, Arlington Street.

A PATRON WANTED 167

This letter, with its remarks about the valuable
information sent him, despite its writer's vehement
denial of having ever sent it, is still in existence in
the British Museum, duly wafered, addressed and
postmarked. It had been left in the possession of
Barrett, from whom it passed into the hands of
Dr. Glynn, and from him it was acquired by the
nation. Walpole's reply naturally delighted Chatterton,
who was thoroughly deceived by its friendly and
courteous tone as to the character of the man he was
corresponding with. He answered it at once, en-
closing a continuation of " The History of Painters,"
as well as giving, unfortunately for the peaceful pro-
gress of the correspondence, a full account, so it is
supposed, of his real circumstances. All that is left
of this letter are these words : —

I offer you some further anecdotes and specimens of Poetry
and Painters, and am,

Your very humble and obedient Servant,

Thomas Chatterton.
March 30th, 1769,

37, Corn Street, Bristol.

It is supposed that Walpole, when returning the
correspondence later on, cut off the rest of Chat-
terton's letter to retain, if needed, as evidence of
its writer's confessions.

According to Walpole's own account, which is the
only testimony on the matter available, Chatterton
informed him " that he was the son of a poor widow,
who supported him with great difficulty ; that he was
a clerk, or an apprentice to an attorney, but had a

168 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

taste and turn for more elegant studies ; and hinted a
wish that I would assist him with my interest in
emerging out of so dull a profession, by procuring
him some place in which he could pursue his natural
bent. He affirmed that great treasures of ancient
poetry had been discovered in his native city, and
were in the hands of a person who had lent him those
he had transmitted to me ; for he now sent me others,
amongst which was an absolute modern pastoral in
dialogue, thinly sprinkled with old words. Pray
observe that he affirmed having received the poems
from another person ; whereas it is ascertained that
the gentleman at Bristol, who possesses the fund of
Rowley's poems, received them from Chatterton."

It must be remembered that these words are what
Walpole chose to publish some years after the
poet's death, and that nobody could gainsay them,
or any part of them. The " Honourable " gentleman
continues the narrative — a narrative he took care
to have inserted in the pages of The Gentleman s
Magazine, after he had had some copies of it
printed in his own private printing-press at Straw-
berry Hill — in these words : —

I wrote to a relation of mine at Bath ' to inquire into the
situation and character of Chatterton, according to his own
account of himself ; nothing was returned about his character,
but his own story was verified.

In the meantime I communicated the poems to Mr. Gray
and Mr. Mason, who at once pronounced them forgeries, and
declared there was no symptom in them of their being the

The Countess of Ossory.

A PATRON WANTED 169

productions of near so distant an age ; the language and metres
being totally unlike anything ancient. . . .

Being satisfied with my intelligence about Chatterton, I
wrote him a letter with as much kindness and tenderness as
if I had been his guardian. ... I undeceived him about my
being a person of any interest, and urged to him that in duty
and gratitude to his mother, who had straitened herself to breed
him up to a profession, he ought to labour in it, that in her old
age he might absolve his filial debt ; and I told him that when
he should have made a fortune he might unbend himself with
the studies consonant to his inchnations. I told him, also, that
I had communicated his transcripts to much better judges, and
that they were by no means satisfied with the authenticity of
his supposed MSS.

Whatever Walpole's letter really was, it showed
Chatterton at once that he had utterly mistaken the
character of his courteous correspondent ; and that no
sooner had the man discovered the lowly position of
the poet than all his real interest in him and his corre-
spondence had evaporated. In the first flush of shame
and disappointment Chatterton wrote a promise he
could not fulfil, although it is possible that in his first
fit of disappointment he did really destroy some of his
manuscripts. His words to Walpole were : —

Sir, — I am not able to dispute with a person of your literary
character. I have transcribed Rowley's poems, &c., &c., from
a transcript in the possession of a gentleman who is assured of
their authenticity. St. Augustin's Minster was in Bristol. In
speaking of painters in Bristol, I mean glass-stainers. The
MSS. have long been in the hands of the present possessor,
which is all I know of them. Though I am but sixteen years
of age I have lived long enough to see that poverty attends
literature. I am obhged to you. Sir, for your advice, and
will go a little beyond it, by destroying all my useless

170 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

lumber of literature, and never using my pen again but in
the law.

I am,

Your most humble servant,

Thomas Chatterton.
Bristol, April 8th, 1769.

Walpole did not condescend to take any notice of
this letter, which long afterwards he described as
"rather a peevish answer." Barrett was evidently-
pressing Chatterton for the " History of the Painters,"
and the other MSS., with a view to incorporate them
in his long-projected book on Bristol. There are still
preserved in the British Museum two differing drafts
of a letter intended for Walpole, one of them by
Barrett, the other by Chatterton. Neither was sent,
but finally another, a third, was drafted, approved,
copied by Chatterton, and duly forwarded. It was
in these terms : —

Sir, — Being fully convinced of the papers of Rowley being
genuine, I should be obliged to you to return me the copy I sent
you, having no other. Mr. Barrett, an able antiquary, who is
now writing the " History of Bristol," has desired it of me ;
and I should be sorry to deprive him, or the world, indeed,
of a valuable curiosity, which I know to be an authentic piece
of antiquity.

Your very humble servant,

Thomas Chatterton.
Bristol, Corn Street,

April 14, 1769.
PS. — If you wish to publish them yourself, they are at your
service.

It should be pointed out that the two first drafts,
prepared by Chatterton and Barrett respectively, were

A PATRON WANTED 171

much longer and more controversially worded than
the one eventually adopted, and by their remarks
prove that Walpole must have made reference to the
specimens of verse sent him by the youthful poet,
as being too harmonious for the age assigned them ;
to the metre in which some were written not having
been known until used by Spenser ; to Mr. Vertue
having been appealed to for his opinion ; and to
some other topics.

Chatterton did not obtain any reply to his letter
of April 14th. He waited until the 24th July following
and then, doubtless urged by Barrett, wrote as
follows : —

Sir, — I cannot reconcile your behaviour with the notions I
once entertained of you. I think myself injured, Sir ; and did
you not know my circumstances, you would not dare to treat
me thus. I have sent twice for a copy of the manuscripts : no
answer from you. An explanation, or excuse for your silence
would oblige.

Thomas Chatterton.

On August 4th following, nearly four months
after Chatterton's first request for his transcripts,
Walpole says that in response to this " singularly
impertinent letter," "snapping up both his poems and
letters, without taking a copy of either, for which I
am now sorry, I -returned all to him, and thought
no more of him or them," for a very long time, when
the subject cropped up in ways unpleasing to the
noble gentleman.

In after years, when Walpole's behaviour to
Chatterton had been vigorously discussed in the
journals of the time, he deemed it necessary to defend

172 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

himself, and explained that when he received the
poet's letter of April 14th, he

was going to Paris in a day or two, and either forgot his request
of the poems, or perhaps not having time to have them copied,
deferred till my return, which was to be in six weeks. I protest
I do not remember which was the case ; and yet, though in a
cause of so little importance, I will not utter a syllable of which
I am not positively certain, nor will charge my memory with a
tittle beyond what it retains.

Soon after my return from France, I received another letter
[i.e., July 24th] from Chatterton, the style of which was singularly
impertinent. He demanded his poems roughly ; and added,
that I would not have dared to use him so ill, if he had not
acquainted me with the narrowness of his circumstances.

My heart did not accuse me of insolence to him. I wrote
an answer expostulating with him on his injustice, and renewing
good advice — but upon second thoughts, reflecting that so
wrong-headed a young man, of whom I knew nothing and
whom I had never seen, might be absurd enough to print my
letter, I flung it into the fire.

This really concluded the matter as far as Chat-
terton was personally concerned, but the insult rankled
in the lad's heart and he could not forget, even if
he did eventually forgive. Whilst he was still smart-
ing under the unexpected blow, he seized his pen
and with his customary impetuosity wrote off the
following lines : —

Walpole ! I thought not I should ever see
So mean a Heart as thine has proved to be ;
Thou, who, in Luxury nurst, beholdst with Scorn
The Boy, who Friendless, Penniless, Forlorn,
Asks thy high Favour — thou mayst call me Cheat
Say, didst thou ne'er indulge in such Deceit ?
Who wrote Otranto ? But I will not chide,
Scorn I will repay with Scorn, and Pride with Pride,

■'■■■ ?P /• / '- ' - ■''' ' ' ' '■

'f-vfejf A/rt,*^"Mf..^^/AC,v ^^ • .■••'.*■ .-.V. / • '.-..It ,

./■'^

'" - !■■'>'■,-■ -r

/v-

^ >^

■ '■ % . '■... . C) '■'*

LINES ON HORACE WALPOLE.

To face p, 112.

A PATRON WANTED 173

Still, Walpole, still, thy prosy Chapters write,
And twaddling Letters to some Fair indite :
Laud all above thee, — fawn and cringe to those
Who, for thy Fame, were better Friends than Foes ;
Still spurn the incautious Fool who dares —

Had I the Gifts of Wealth and Luxury shared.
Not poor and mean — Walpole ! thou hadst not dared
Thus to insult. But I shall live and stand
By Rowley's side — when Thou art dead and damned.
1769. Thomas Chatterton.'

According to the lad's own account, after he had thus
relieved his feelings, he had "intended to have sent
the above to Mr. Walpole, but my sister persuaded
me out of it." It was fortunate that the good sense
of his affectionate sister saved him from acting in so
ill-judged a way, although the lines could scarcely
have embittered Walpole's hatred more than the boy's
last letter had done, and it is difficult to imagine how
the author of " Otranto " could have displayed more
rancour and malice than he did, when Chatterton's
death afforded him a safe opportunity.

To blame Walpole for not assisting the youth to
put the Rowley romance before the public is absurd ;
but for the man's cowardly, mean, untruthful attack
upon Chatterton's reputation, after the lad's death,
all fair-minded persons must hold him in contempt.
To blame him for not helping, or even for not
encouraging the young poet in seeking a literary
career is uncalled for : Walpole only acted as any
ordinary man of the world, even of the present time,

' The manuscript of these lines is in the Museum of Antiqui-
ties at Bristol.

174 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

would have acted ; what renders his conduct fairly
loathsome is the cruel, the heartless way in which, to
palliate his own behaviour towards him, he did all
he could after the lad's death to misrepresent his
actions, defame his character, and belittle the value
of his works. In private letters to Hannah More,
the Countess of Ossory, the Rev. Mr. Cole, Mason,
and others, he wrote the most violent invectives
against the dead youth. To the last-named corre-
spondent he wrote that Chatterton "was a consum-
mate villain and had gone enormous lengths before
he destroyed himself," and characterised him as a
" complete rogue." To Mr. Cole he refers to him as
"a liar," "a forger," "a rascal," and other terms of
discredit, and to his other correspondents uses equally
opprobrious language about the dead boy.

In his so-called " Vindication," Walpole returns to
the attack, continually referring to the dead youth as
"an impostor" and to his "forgeries" : he says, "all
of the house of forgery are relations ; " adding that
Chatterton's "ingenuity in counterfeiting styles might
easily have led him to those more facile imitations of
prose, promissory notes," and that "in encouraging
him, I should have encouraged a propensity to
forgery, which is not the talent most wanting culture
in the present age." This moralising humbug seems
to have thought, by diverting public disgust and dis-
trust towards the deceased poet, to avert suspicion
from himself, and to screen his own delinquencies.
Nowadays few readers of his vitriolic correspondence
know that this slanderer of friend and foe alike ; this
retailer of libels and inventor of calumny, was himself

A PATRON WANTED 175

a most skilful falsifier and forger of documents, one
whose misdeeds should have made him answerable
to the law, as they would nowadays {^ide Appendix C).

It would not have been necessary to allude to the
man's attempted belittlement of the various produc-
tions of Chatterton's genius had the matter already
righted itself, as it has in the cases of his forgotten
disparagements of the works of Goldsmith, Sterne,
Johnson, and other men of genius : these miserable
matters would not have been dragged forth once
more into the light of day, were it not a fact that
many of Walpole's cruel imputations are still bearing
ill fruit, and from time to time furnish texts for
biographers to preach upon to the detriment of Chat-
terton's reputation. It is difficult to make some
people believe that a nobleman — and Walpole suc-
ceeded to an earldom — could persistently and malici-
ously strive to dishonour the memory of a poor young
poet whose only offence was an attempt to delude
the author of " Otranto " as he, in a similar way, but
without the lad's excuse, had deceived the reading
public.

Although Chatterton had been so cruelly dis-
appointed in his expectation of getting the Rowley
poems presented to the public under the protection
of an influential person, and circumstances compelled
him to retire more and more absolutely behind the
mask of his mediaeval priest, he did not cease from
talking about the parchments to all and everybody
who would listen to him. His sister relates that
when Mr. Stephens, of Salisbury, a relative, visited
them, her brother would talk of nothing but these

176 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

manuscripts, and Mr. Stephens, on being appealed to,
confirmed her statement.

It would seem that this relative of the Chattertons,
although described as a " breeches-maker," must have
been a man of some knowledge of matters higher than
his business, and of some education, otherwise the poet
could scarcely have discussed with him such things
as the Rowley poems and the various subjects
touched upon in the following communication. This
letter, published in Southey's edition of Chatterton's
Works, and stated to have been furnished by Mr.
Catcott, is undated ; but it will be noticed that it
must have been written after the Dodsley and
Walpole incidents : —

Sir, — If you think vanity is the dictator of the following lines
you will not do me justice. No, Sir, it is only the desire of
proving myself worthy your correspondence, has induced me
to write. My partial friends flatter me with giving me a little
uncommon share of abilities. It is Mr. Stephens alone, whose
good sense disdains flattery, whom I appeal to. It is a maxim
with me that compliments of friends is [^sic] more dangerous
than railing of enemies. You may enquire, if you please, for
the Town and Country Magazine, wherein all signed D. B.
and Asaphides are mine. The pieces called Saxon' are
originally and totally the production of my muse ; though
I should think it a greater merit to be able to translate Saxon.
As the said Magazine is by far the best of its kind, I shall have
some pieces in it every month ; and if I vary from my said
signature will give you notice thereof.

Having some curious Anecdotes of Paintings and Painters,
I sent them to Mr. Walpole, Author of the " Anecdotes of Paint-
ing, " " Historic Doubts," and other pieces well known in the

' Called " Ethelgar," " Kenrick," " Cerdick," " Gorthmund,"
and "Cutholf."

A PATRON WANTED 177

learned world. His answer I make bold to send you. Hence I
began a literary correspondence, which ended as most such do.
I differed with him in the age of a MS. He insists on his
superior talents, which is no proof of that superiority. We
possibly may engage in one of the periodical pubUcations,
though I know not who will give the onset. Of my proceed-
ings in this affair I shall make bold to acquaint you.

My next correspondent of note is Dodsley, whose collection
of modern and antique poems are in every library. In this
city, my principal acquaintances are Mr. Barrett, now writing
at a vast expence, an ancient and modern history of Bristol,
a task more difficult than the cleansing the Augean stable ;
many have attempted but none succeeded in it ; yet will this
work, when finished, please not only my fellow-citizens, but all
the world ; and Mr. Catcott, author of that excellent Treatise
on the Deluge and other pieces, to enumerate which would
argue a supposition that you were not acquainted with the
literary world. To the studies of these gentlemen I am always
admitted, and they are not below asking my advice in any
matters of antiquity.

I have made a very curious collection of coins and antiques.
As I cannot afford to have a gordlabine [sic] to keep them in,
I commonly give them to those who can. If you pick up any
Roman, Saxon, Enghsh coins, or other antiques, even a sight
of them would highly oblige me.

When you quarter your arms in the mullet, say. Or, a fess,

vert ; by the name of Chatterton. I trace your family from

Fitzstephen, son of Stephen, Earl of Ammerle [Aumerle ?] in

1095, son of Od [Odo ?] Earl of Bloys, and Lord of Holderness.

I am, your very humble servant,

Thomas Chatterton.

A strange kind of epistle to send to a " breeches-
maker," althougli he may have descended from a
Norman earl, or any other grandee, during the seven
centuries supposed to have elapsed. It is rather
curious that Chatterton, in his desire to display his
literary activity, should have claimed as his the

12

178 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

pseudonym of "Asaphides," as that was the name
over which a Bristol linen-draper, Mr. Lockstone,
published his metrical effusions. It is but fair to
Chatterton to state that he revised and edited these
pieces of Lockstone's to suit them for publication, and
in consequence one of them has been frequently
included in his poetical works.

CHAPTER IX
A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

CHATTERTON'S failure to get his Rowley
Manuscripts placed before the public inten-
sified his disgust at the aimless and seemingly-
hopeless position he occupied. Bristolians were
unable or unwilling to further his plans for pub-
lication, either by money or influence, and although
his two first schemes for obtaining the co-operation
of Londoners of position had failed, he believed that
success would be certain could he contrive to get to
the metropolis. In various ways his condition was
deplorable. Lambert gave nothing but board and
lodging for his services, and, however economical
he might be, the youth could not mix in any
class of society, much less that he was now asso-
ciating with, without incurring some expenses, and
he was now too old to manage on the small sum
his mother could spare him from her slender
earnings, even if his proud, affectionate spirit would
have permitted him to allow her to do more for
him, as evidently she was unable to. All testimony
proves that from George Catcott he received little
or nothing in return for his Rowley Manuscripts,

179

180 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

although the pewterer had been presented with
some of the finest ; whilst the pitiable sums he
had, at long intervals, from Burgum or Barrett
were utterly inadequate for his necessities. The
surgeon seems to have considered the loan of
some books and a little instruction in surgery
ample compensation for the parchments and tran-
scripts he received from Chatterton for his " History
of Bristol," and what the youth obtained from
Burgum may be gauged by the reward given
him for the pedigree. His receipts being so small
it is not to be wondered that his expenditure
exceeded his income, but his own statement, made
in the circumstances it was, may be accepted that
his total indebtedness, due to two persons, was under
five pounds.

Naturally Chatterton became soured in temper and
more and more sarcastic in his verse. His favourite
friend Phillips was dead. His acquaintanceship with
the Rev. Alexander Catcott, the most cultivated
man he had as yet come in contact with, was
ruptured, and, as he must have felt, by his own boyish
impetuosity ; his applications, undertaken with such
hopes of success, to Dodsley and to Walpole had
both ended in disappointment. His servitude under
Lambert pressed upon him with ever increasing
torture. He owed money without any prospect,
in existing circumstances, of repaying it, so that
altogether life in Bristol became unbearable.

He determined to get away from his native city
by some means or the other, and make for London.
He had been in communication with various pub-

A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 181

Ushers in the metropoHs for whose publications he
had written and to whom his name was therefore
known. According to the statements of certain of
his associates at Bristol, the London publishers
were by no means sparing of their praises and
made liberal promises of assistance and employment
should he make his residence in the metropolis, so
that if their reminiscences were trustworthy his pro-
jected journey to London was by no means foolhardy.
According to his former associate, Thistlethwaite,
when asked what plan of life he intended to pursue
in the metropolis, Chatterton said, " My first attempt
shall be in the Literary way. The promises I have
received are sufficient to dispel doubt ; but should
I, contrary to my expectations, find myself deceived,
I will, in that case, turn Methodist preacher. Cre-
dulity is as potent a deity as ever, and a new sect
may easily be devised. But if that too shall fail
me, my last and final resource is a pistol."

Thistlethwaite's statements have been found in
some cases so improbable, if not impossible, that
it is unsafe to rely upon them without corrobora-
tion, especially when made many years after the
incident to which they refer and when whole con-
versations are circumstantially repeated. The words
imputed to Chatterton do not seem altogether
unsuited to the speaker, but they must not be
accepted as spoken by him, or as anything more
than an approximate embodiment of some passing
fancy, and need not be regarded as an expression
of his normal feelings or intentions. A published
legend, especially if promulgated long after the

182 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

event to which it refers, is, like a certain weed, diffi-
cult to eradicate from the soil where it has taken
root. Thistlethwaite's statements have given birth
to a plenteous crop of anecdotes to prove how
Chatterton brooded over and became familiar with
the idea of suicide, but the element of authenticity-
is weak in all of them. In the "Supplement"
to the " Miscellanies " of Chatterton, published in
1784, the following lines are given as by the youthful
poet, but no proof of their authorship is cited : —

Since we can die but once, what matters it,

If rope, or garter, poison, pistol, sword.

Slow wasting sickness, or the sudden burst

Of valve arterial in the noble parts.

Curtail the miseries of human life ?

Though varied is the cause, the effect's the same ;

All to one common dissolution tends.

In the " Memoir of Chatterton," ascribed to C. B.
Willcox, prefixed to the 1842 Cambridge Edition
of his Works, the following anecdote on this suicide
theme is given without any authority being assigned
to it. The poet was spending an evening with a
party of intimate companions, when, amongst other
subjects, the conversation turned upon suicide ; some
took one side of the argument and some another as to
whether the act of self-destruction was one of bravery
or cowardice. Chatterton, suddenly plucking from
his breast a small pocket-pistol, and holding it to
his forehead, with resolute accent exclaimed, " Now
if one had but the courage to pull the trigger ! " It
was then for the first time discovered that he was

A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 183

in the constant habit of carrying this loaded weapon
about his person.

The unnamed authority for this story evidently
knew little of the poet's habits or temperament. As
Professor Wilson has pointed out, " there seems little
probability to favour the idea of his carrying fire-
arms in any such fashion ; " indeed, such articles were
not so portable in those days, nor so easily acquired
as they are now, and most decidedly Chatterton was
one of the last persons to make public declaration
of want of courage to carry out anything, even
self-destruction. It is but fair to state, however,
that in the unpublished memoranda the Rev. Samuel
Seyer put by for use in another projected volume
of his " History of Bristol," is to be read amid
several unpublished anecdotes of Chatterton that a
relative of the Rev. Dr. Broughton had informed
him the poet, when living in Bristol, "constantly
carried a loaded pistol in his pocket, and oftentimes
when walking with Dr. Broughton has taken it out
of his Pocket, and putting it to his mouth, said he
wished he could persuade himself to draw the
Trigger." This story had evidently got about and
eventually formed the foundation for C. B. Willcox's
sensational narrative.

Dr. Gregory, Chatterton's first biographer, is,
indeed, the authority for a statement that long before
the poet left Bristol he had repeatedly intimated to
Mr. Lambert's servants his attention of putting an
end to his own existence. Mr. Lambert's mother,
according to this account, was particularly terrified,
but was unable to persuade her son, the scrivener, to

184 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

take any notice of these threats until one day he
found a document, which Chatterton took an oppor-
tunity of leaving upon his desk, bearing the ominous
inscription " The last Will and Testament of Thomas
Chatterton." The scrivener duly read the paper and
found that the writer avowed his intention of destroy-
ing himself on the following day, viz., Easter Sunday,
April 15, 1770.

About the same time Lambert found and took
possession, in his usual high-handed manner, of a
letter from Chatterton, addressed to his friend Clay-
field, thanking him for his past kindnesses and
informing him that by the time this communication
reached him, the writer would be no more. Instead
of forwarding the letter to the person to whom it was
addressed, Lambert sent it to Barrett, thus showing
that he was fully aware of his apprentice's intimate
acquaintanceship with the surgeon. Writing about
this matter some time after Chatterton's death, and
when there was no one able to question his state-
ments, Barrett says that on hearing from Lambert he
sent for the youth and "questioned him closely upon
the occasion in a tender and friendly manner, but
forcibly urged to him the horrible crime of self-
murder, however glossed over by our present libertines,
blaming the bad company and principles he had
adopted. This betrayed him into some compunction,
and by his tears he seemed to feel it. At the same
time he acknowledged he wanted for nothing, and
denied any distress upon that account." This is the
narrative given by the surgeon in his account of
Chatterton, an account more remarkable for its sup-

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A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 185

pression of all facts of the intercourse of the two
dissimilar associates than for anything else.

The youth was left in the dark as to how Barrett
had obtained his information about the threatened
suicide, nor did he know that the surgeon had seen
his letter to Clayfield, "a worthy generous man," as
Barrett is careful to record in his " History," so the
following day he sent this letter to him : —

Sir, — Upon recollection I don't know how Mr. Clayfield
could come by his letter, as I had intended to have given him a
letter but did not. In regard to my motives for the supposed
rashness, I shall observe that I keep no worse company than
myself] I never drink to excess, and have without vanity too
much sense to be attached to the mercenary retailers of iniquity.
No ! it is my pride^ my damn'd, native unconquerable pride
that plunges me into distraction. You must know that i9-2oths
of my composition is pride ; I must either live a slave, a servant,
have no will of my own, no sentiments of my own which I may
freely declare as such, or die ! Perplexing alternative ! But it
distracts me to think of it. I will endeavour to learn humility,
but it cannot be here. What it will cost me on the trial,
Heaven knows !

I am,

Your much obliged,

Unhappy humble servant,

T. C.
Thursday evening.

After having suggested by his remarks that
Chatterton had for some time been contemplating
suicide. Dr. Gregory proceeds in his biography of
the poet to justify his suggestion by observing that
the "Will" was, probably, "the result of temporary
uneasiness," and then adds a footnote to the effect
that he had "been informed on good authority, that

186 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

it was occasioned by the refusal of a gentleman, whom
he had occasionally complimented in his poems, to
accommodate him with a supply of money." As a
matter of fact, it is pretty generally believed Chatter-
ton had purposely left the "Will" where it should
be found, with the express intention of frightening
Lambert into getting rid of his undesirable apprentice.
It is also stated that Mrs. Lambert found the terrify-
ing document, and she giving it to her husband, un-
doubtedly with some of that matrimonial clatter for
which she was noted, he, like a respectable, prudent
householder, considered it advisable to free himself of
so dangerous or, at any rate, troublesome an inmate
of his establishment at once, before anything uncom-
fortable happened. He dismissed Chatterton from
his service — that is to say, speaking officially, he
released him from the remainder of his term of
servitude, after he had been in his employ for a little
more than two years and nine months.

Of course, Lambert has been blamed for his treat-
ment of Chatterton, and much has been imputed to
him that he was guiltless of, but it must be stated that
his behaviour was more due to his environment and
natural temperament than to any inherent brutality.
After the lad had left Lambert does not appear to
have borne him any ill-will, or to have spoken dis-
paragingly of him, as others did, but he did not com-
prehend him and was, there is evidence to prove, glad
to get rid of him. Chatterton, in his hurried depar-
ture, left some of his belongings behind him, including
an old book on Magic, which had probably belonged
to his father. This volume contained various notes

A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 187

by the lad who, so Lambert told his friend Paget, had
endeavoured to raise spirits by means of the instruc-
tions it gave.

Amongst the odds and ends, besides the " Will,"
which the apprentice omitted to take with him were
copies of ancient musical notes, heraldic diagrams, a
drawing of a coat-of-arms with sixty-nine quarterings!
scraps of verse, and a folio sheet of two and a half
pages, dated January, 1769, and headed, " Extract of
a letter from a young gentleman at Plymouth, to a
young lady his sister at Bristol." It is a curious
piece of banter on the birth of a child, representing
it as a destitute stranger who has mysteriously arrived.
Amongst the verse are the following lines, probably
written as a portion of " Amphitryon," the unpublished
poem which was subsequently revised and completed
as " The Revenge" : —

Eternal Vengeance flaming o'er his head :

He clashed the Clouds, bade swelling Thunders sound,

And rapid whirls the . . . Lightnings round ;

A . . . substance of Etherial smoke,

The Godhead stood contest and thus He spoke.

Another piece of verse is entitled " March, an
Elegy," and was, doubtless, intended as a companion
poem to the " February " elegy, published in the
Town and Country Magazine for February, 1770. It
is not unlikely that he intended to deal with each
month in the year in a similar manner. The frag-
ment for March is : —

Hark, 'tis his knell ! — I tremble as I hear.
How wells the chilUng ... to my heart.

188 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Why weeps my Darla ? Why this starting tear ?
Ah ! can I comfort, unpossest in part,
Since Hardwick's dead ?

Although having no particular value in themselves,
these fragments are interesting as throwing light upon
the lad's method of work.

Whether the " Last Will and Testament" was only
a hoax, as is generally believed, or whether it was
really intended to be the lad's farewell to life, as the
prefatory words of it appear to suggest : " All this
wrote between 1 1 and 1 2 o'clock, Saturday, in the
utmost distress of mind, April 14, 1770," is one of
the unsolved riddles of the youth's short but per-
plexing career. The most probable explanation of
the document is that it resulted from a conflict
between his impetuous feelings ; was the outcome
of his varying moods, sometimes serious, sometimes
sarcastic ; and that the writer himself only wrote as
his mind swayed between contending impressions.
Colour is given to the idea that he intended to be
at least partially facetious by the fact, first noticed
by Professor Wilson, that portions of the Chatterton
document are derived from the Will of Samuel
Derrick, a deceased Master of the Ceremonies at
Bath, which had been published in the April number
of the Town and Country Magazine for 1769. The
account of Derrick and his testamentary document
follows a paper by Chatterton in the above publica-
tion, and must have been read by him, as several
clauses in his own so-called " Will " are directly
derived from that of the deceased M.C.

A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 189

As there are some points in the Chatterton "Will "
to which particular notice will be drawn, it is advis-
able to give the document in extenso. Following the
quotation given above, as to his "distress of mind,"
the testator lapses into verse, probably having
originally intended to have written the whole in that
manner : —

BuRGUM,' I thank thee, thou hast let me see

That Bristol has impressed her stamp on thee.

Thy generous spirit emulates the Mayor's,

Thy generous spirit with thy Bristol pairs.

Gods ! What would Burgum give to get a name,

And snatch his blundering dialect from shame !

What would he give to hand his memory down

To Time's remotest boundary ? — A crown.

Would you ask more, his swelling face looks blue ;

Futurity he rates at two pounds two.

Well, Burgum, take thy laurel to thy brow ;

With a rich saddle decorate a sow ;

Strut in Iambics, totter in an Ode,

Promise, and never pay, and be the mode.

Catcott, for thee, I know thy heart is good,

But, ah ! thy merit's seldom understood ;

Too bigoted to whimsies, which thy youth

Received to venerate as Gospel truth,

Thy friendship never could be dear to me.

Since all I am is opposite to thee.

If ever obligated to thy purse,

Rowley discharges all — my first, chief curse !

For had I never known the antique lore,

I ne'er had ventured from my peaceful shore

' It has been suggested that it was Burgum's refusal to
accommodate Chatterton with a loan of money that incited him
to contemplate suicide.

190 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

To be the wreck of promises and hopes,
A Boy of Learning, and a Bard of Tropes ;
But happy in my humble sphere had moved,
Untroubled, unrespected, unbeloved.

To Barrett next, he has my thanks sincere

For all the little knowledge 1 had here.

But what was knowledge ? Could it here succeed

When scarcely twenty in the town can read ? ,

Could knowledge bring in interest to maintain

The wild expenses of a poet's brain ?

Disinterested Burgum never meant

To take my knowledge for his gain per cent.

When wildly squandering everything I got

On books and learning, and the Lord knows what.

Could Burgum then, my critic, patron, friend,

Without security attempt to lend ?

No, that would be imprudent in the man ;

Accuse him of imprudence if you can.

He promised, I confess, and seemed sincere ;

Few keep an honorary promise here.

I thank thee, Barrett, — thy advice was right.

But 'twas ordained by fate that I should write.

Spite of the prudence of this prudent place,

I wrote my mind, nor hid the author's face.

Harris ere long, when, reeking from the press,

My numbers make his self-importance less.

Will wrinkle up his face, and damn the day.

And drag my body to the triple way,

Poor superstitious mortals! wreck your hate

Upon my cold remains

Here the verse ends. Although Chatterton may
have started with the idea of writing the entire
document in verse, in the impetuosity of his com-
position, or in consequence of some interruption,
such as the unexpected arrival of his employer, he
ends the lines thus abruptly, and when he resumed

A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 191

his pen found prose better suited to his purpose.
The manner in which the youth introduces Burgum's
name, and returns to it subsequently, lends colour
to the suggestion that his disappointment in not
obtaining a sum of money he required and which
had been promised by the pewterer, was the cause
of his temporary trouble. Accepting Chatterton's
expressions literally, it would seem that Burgum
had attempted to add versification to his many
presumed qualifications, and in all probability the
young apprentice had been assisting him in his
attempts.

Sir Walter Scott, who was not above doing a
certain amount of literary fabrication himself, appears
unduly severe on his youthful predecessor's imposture,
and considers that Chatterton, by the way he alludes
to "the antique lore," " seems to attest the originality
of Rowley, even in the Will which he wrote before
his projected suicide." This idea is far fetched and
a perversion of Chatterton's expression, which rather
appears to point to a confession of authorship : his
work as Rowley, he contends, is ample compensation
for any remuneration received, if, indeed, any had
been, from George Catcott. Several of the boy's
expressions are involved and some exaggerated —
such as the statement that scarcely twenty people in
Bristol can read — but the whole document is evi-
dently hastily written and unrevised. The concluding
lines are conclusive that the writer was acquainted
with the manner in which the bodies of persons
found guilty of felo de se were treated. The prose
remainder of the "Will" runs thus: —

192 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

This is the last Will and Testament of me, Thomas Chatterton,
of the city of Bristol ; being sound in body, or it is the fault of
my last surgeon ; the soundness of my mind, the coroner and
jury are to be judges of, desiring them to take notice, that the
most perfect masters of human nature in Bristol distinguished
me by the title of the Mad Genius ; therefore, if I do a mad
action, it is conformable to every action of my life, which all
savoured of insanity.'

Item. If after my death, which will happen to-morrow night
before eight o'clock, being the Feast of the Resurrection, the
Coroner and the jury bring it in lunacy, I will and direct that
Paul Farr, Esq., and Mr. John Flower, at their joint expense,
cause my body to be interred in the tomb of my fathers, and
raise the monument over my body to the height of four feet
five inches, placing the present flat stone on the top, and
adding six tablets.

On the first to be engraved in Old English characters : —

Fous (jui far tci pasej
IPur I'ame ffiuaterotne Cfiatterton prief

£e cors tsi ot iti giat
JL'ame tecjsbe J1S» Crist. M- ffiClE.

It is deemed best to give the old French and
Latin of these inscriptions corrected, and not as
they appear in Chatterton's "Will."

On the second tablet, in Old English characters : —

©rate pro antmsbus aianus Cfiattcrton et aitcia ©lorts ejus, ijui pQrem

aianus oitit I Irie meiiflis iftobnnt). M- ffiCCCIE.

quorum animabuB propitutiot ©eus. amen.

' Southey says : " Chatterton was insane — better proof of
this than the Coroner's Inquest is, that there was insanity in
his family. [His sister, Mrs. Newton, was for some period
confined in an asylum.] His biographers were not informed
of this important fact ; and the editors of his collected Works
forbore to state it, because the Collection was made for the
benefit of his surviving relations, a sister and a niece, in both
of whom the disease had manifested itself,"

A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 193

On the third tablet, in Roman characters : —

Sacred to the memory of
Thomas Chatterton.

Subchaunter of the Cathedral of this city, whose ancestors
were residents of St. Mary Redcliffe since the year 1140. He
died the 7th of August, 1752.

On the fourth tablet, in Roman characters : —

To the memory of
Thomas Chatterton.

Reader, judge not if thou art a Christian, believe that he
shall be judged by a superior Power. To that Power alone
is he now answerable.

On the fifth and sixth tablets, which shall front each other : —

Atchievements, viz. on the one, vert, a fess, or, crest, a
mantle of estate, gules, supported by a spear, sable, headed
or. On the other, or, a fess, vert, crest a cross of Knights
Templars.

And I will and direct that if the coroner's inquest bring it in
felo de se, the said monument shall be notwithstanding erected.
And if the said Paul Farr and John Flower have souls so
Bristolish as to refuse this my request, they will transmit a copy
of my Will to the Society for supporting the Bill of Rights,
whom I hereby empower to build the said monument according
to the aforesaid directions. And if they the said Paul Farr and
John Flower should build the said monument, I will and direct
that the second edition of my " Kew Gardens" shall be dedicated
to them in the following dedication : — To Paul Farr and John
Flower, Esqrs., this book is most humbly dedicated by the
Author's Ghost.

Item. I give all my vigour and fire of youth to Mr. George
Catcott, being sensible that he is most in want of it.

Item. From the same charitable motive, I give and bequeath
unto the Reverend Mr. Camplin senior, all my humility ; to Mr.
Burgum all my prosody, and grammar, — likewise one moiety of
my modesty ; the other moiety to any young lady who can

13

194 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

prove without blushing, that she wants that valuable commodity.
To Bristol, all my spirit and disinterestedness ; parcels of goods
unknown on her quay since the days of Canning and Rowley !
'Tis true a charitable gentleman, one Mr. Colston, smuggled a
considerable quantity of it, but it being proved that he was a
papist, the Worshipful Society of Aldermen endeavoured to
throttle him with the Oath of Allegiance. I leave also my
religion to Dr. Cutts Barton, Dean of Bristol, hereby empowering
the sub-sacrist to strike him on the head when he goes to sleep
in church. My powers of utterance I give to the Reverend Mr.
Broughton, hoping he will employ them to a better purpose
than reading lectures on the immortality of the soul. I leave
the Reverend Mr. Catcott some little of my free-thinking that
he may put on the spectacles of Reason, and see how vilely he is
duped in believing the Scriptures literally. I wish he and his
brother George would know how far I am their real enemy ;
but I have an unlucky way of raillery, and when the strong fit of
satire is upon me, I spare neither friend nor foe. This is my
excuse for what I have said of them elsewhere. I leave Mr.
Clayfield the sincerest thanks my gratitude can give ; and I will
and direct that, whatever any person may think the pleasure of
reading my works worth, they immediately pay their own
valuation to him, since it is then become a lawful debt to me,
and to him as my executor in this case.

I leave my moderations to the politicians on both sides of
the question. I leave my generosity to our present Right
Worshipful Mayor, Thomas Harris, Esq. 1 give my abstinence
to the company at the Sheriff's annual feast in general, more
particularly the Aldermen.

Item. I give and bequeath to Mr. Matthew Mease a mourning
ring with this motto, " Alas, poor Chatterton ! " provided he
pays for it himself. I leave the young ladies all the letters they
have had from me, assuring them that they need be under no
apprehensions from the appearance of my ghost, for I die for
none of them. — Item. I leave all my debts, the whole not five
pounds, to the payment of the charitable and generous Chamber
of Bristol, on penalty, if refused, to hinder every member from
a good dinner by appearing in the form of a bailiff. If in
defiance of this terrible spectre, they obstinately persist in
refusing to discharge any debts, let my two creditors apply to

A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 195

the Supporters of the Bill of Rights. — Item. I leave my mother
and sister to the protection of my friends, if I have any.

Executed in the presence of Omniscience this 14th of
April, 1770.

Thomas Chatterton.

Codicil.

It is my pleasure that Mr. Cocking and Miss Farley print this
my Will the first Saturday after my death. — T. C.

N.B. — In a dispute concerning the character of David,

Mr. argued that he must be a holy man, from the strains

of piety that breathed through his whole works. I being of a
contrary opinion, and knowing that a great genius can effect
anything ; endeavouring in the foregoing Poems ' to represent
an enthusiastic Methodist, intended to send it to Romaine, and
impose it upon the infatuated world as a reality ; but thanks to
Burgum's generosity, I am now employed in matters of more
importance.

Saturday, April 20th, 1770.

It will have been seen that in Barrett's account of his
interview with Chatterton, after Lambert had shown
him the letter to Clayfield, he states that he told the

' It is unknown what poems are referred to ; they are prob-
ably lost, although in vol. i. of Professor Skeat's edition of
Chatterton's Works it is suggested that the reference is to certain
lines in the poet's " Journal Sixth " at p. 42, and in " The Metho-
dist" at p. 162 of the edition in question ; but this does not appear
probable, having regard to the nature of those poems. Chatter-
ton's confession of having intended to impose his lines " upon
an infatuated world as a reality " is extremely suggestive, as
coming from the author of the Rowley Manuscripts. The
concluding allusion to Burgum is probably sarcastic, and the
" matters of more importance," if really intended for anything
definite, may refer to his " Will and Testament " the making
which, if to be regarded seriously, would be of more importance
than any other undertaking its author could have engaged in.

196 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

youth that he deemed the "bad company and principles
he had adopted " were to be blamed for his projected
"horrible crime of self-murder," yet it does not seem
improbable that the surgeon's company and principles
were the leading influences that had worked upon the
lad's mind. Until Chatterton had mixed in "polite
society," and had heard and read the current views
on politics and creeds, his opinions of things were
formed upon what he had been taught at Colston's.
His earliest verses were of the orthodox Church of
England type, and when he burst forth into satire, it
was the Nonconformist who had to bear the brunt
of his boyish indignation. His earliest reading was
devoted to such works as would have gained the
approbation of even Mr. Colston, a man whose
antipathy to all forms of dissent was monomaniacal.
It is recorded of him that, learning a chaplain to
Colston's Hospital had given his vote to a dissenter
during a parliamentary election, the affair was re-
garded by Colston as a horrible scandal ; and he
refused all further intercourse with such a person as
"no sound son of the Church."

Wesley, Whitfield, and their followers were the
first objects of Chatterton's boyish sarcasm, but when
his views were broadened by mixing with more
educated people and after discussing with such men of
the world as Barrett and his circle the usual problems
of life, he rushed to the other extreme, and with
" Reason " only for a guide revelled in all the un-
orthodox controversies of an age which culminated
in the extravagances of the French Revolution. Only
a short interval separated the boyish writer of hymns

A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 197

on " Christmas Day" and of the " Resignation " from
the youthful author of the " Epistle to the Rev.
A. Catcott;" "The Defence," and various versified
laudatory expositions of deism, and other advanced
forms of dissent from Christianity, and who summed
up "The Articles of the Belief of me, Thomas
Chatterton," in these terms : —

That God is incomprehensible. It is not required of us to
know the mysteries of the Trinity, &c., &c., &c.

That it matters not whether a man is a Pagan, Turk, Jew, or
Christian, if he acts according to the religion he professes.

That if a man hves a good, moral life, he is a Christian.

That the stage is the best school of morality. And

That the Church of Rome (some tricks of priestcraft ex-
cepted) is certainly the true Church.

Thomas Chatterton.'

' The manuscript containing the above confession of faith is
now in the British Museum, and affords signs of having been
carried about for some time in its author's pocket.

CHAPTER X
THE LAND OF PROMISE

WITH the strong imagination of youth Chat-
terton was convinced that he could make
a career for himself in London by means of his
literary labour. To live by literature, as a literary
man amongst literary men, was the dream of his
life. He fancied it was a life of freedom ! That
he might not be successful did not affect his project :
he could not fail. He had declared that man was
equal to anything, and that everything might be
acquired by diligence ; moreover, that man had
been sent into the world with arms long enough
to reach anything if he could only extend them.
With such views failure was regarded as impossible.
Besides, he was already known to several London
publishers. In Bristol his political feelings were
strongly in favour of the " Patriotic " party, and under
this influence he composed and forwarded to the
metropolitan journals various satirical pieces. The
longest of these productions, " Kew Gardens," con-
sisted of upwards of twelve hundred lines ; many of
them, however, had already done service in shorter
poems. " Kew Gardens," signed as by " Decimus,"

198

yVfuii- a^ ~ rhui fhCta^l*^^ t^men cfrrvfwr-'d, fg 7rym\j ,
Ueh tfUc/k flu, t)/M/w>j 'fTUrlf- <^ nu) Wuoe^ ,

Jie^aid fhe ^fuk> fa^m^ju^ U£ J

i/ht^ mocij ijeyyT ^n.fmodt- yn ^' dintjn cii>V!Hi<M y
iM)m)e Hie uaxdi of mutfej n ^/nrioTJctj .

FACSIMILE Ol' AN EXTRACT FROM THE MS. OF " KEW GARDENS,"
EY CllATTERTON.

THE LAND OF PROMISE 199

was evidently deemed of more than usual importance
by its author, as he referred to it, and to no other
poem, by name in his "Will." When sending the
manuscript of this poem to a London publisher, for
publication in the Middlesex Journal, it is clearly
seen that Chatterton did not expect any pecuniary
reward for it. At the end of the manuscript of
the first instalment, consisting of about three hundred
lines, he wrote to the editorial publisher, "Mr.
Edmunds will send the author, Thomas Chatterton,
twenty of the Journals, in which the above poem
(which I shall continue) shall appear, by the machine,
if he thinks proper to put it in ; the money shall be
paid to his orders."

In " Kew Gardens " Chatterton reflected strongly
upon the conduct of some of the highest personages
of the realm, as well as upon that of certain Bristolians,
who were personally known to him, for having made
themselves notorious in their little sphere on behalf
of the existing Ministry. It is amusing, not to say
ludicrous, at this distance of time to see the names
of various local nonentities coupled with and treated
as on an equality with the rulers of the land. As
yet the lad had no idea of proportion in such things,
for in his eyes Bristol and its people evidently
represented the British nation.

Other pieces in prose and verse, in a similar strain
to " Kew Gardens," followed each other with great
rapidity, and were greedily snapped up by the London
publishers, who were only too glad to fill their columns
with such spicy material on the author's terms.
Although various Bristolians were severely dealt with

200 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

in some of these pieces, the Barretts, Burgums,
Catcotts, et hoc genus omne, were only castigated for
their real idiosyncrasies and petty foibles, but the chief
political personages of the day, the earls, the dukes,
and the royal highnesses, were charged with criminal
offences and treasonable crimes. No journal of
to-day would venture to insert such accusations as
were then of daily publication in the newspapers.

There is a fragmentary poem of this period which,
owing to the difficulties of deciphering it, has not
been included in any edition of Chatterton's works.
In such portions as can be read it is seen that the
young poet has introduced several leading political
personages under various more or less appropriate
pseudonyms, such, for example, as " Reynardo," for
Fox, but many of these designations hide characters
no longer recognisable. From this unpublished
poem, the manuscript of which is in the British
Museum, the following extracts, taken from a dialogue
between Thyrsis and Hobbinol, will be interesting : —

Thyrsis. Soon as Aurora decks the East with red,
He hears the fatal news, my Lord is dead.
He starts and looks around with feigned surprise,
Then sinks upon the floor and falt'ring cries,
Dead ! Then 'tis time I should be dying too :
What can the Soul without the Body do ?
But, ah ! 'tis bootless to contend with Fate !
Pray has his Lordship left me any Plate ?
My eyes shall never failing tears distill (sic),
For peradventure he has made no will,
Thus weeps the member of the Senate House,
Nor from this ( ? ) gains a single Souse.'

Misled by Bailey's Dictionary, which gives sous, a penny.

THE LAND OF PROMISE 201

Observe, cries Publius, wrinkling up his chin,

How charmingly that single Souse comes in :

(Not in the pocket of the needy Bard ;

His hungry Muse can teU that times are hard.)

Thus Publius sounds his praise with thund'ring roar,

Till spent he looks : his theme is heard no more.

Bumbastes now begins his flow'ry style ;

O Heliconidos, upon me smile!

And as Apollo, or the Muses bring,

A pail of water from the sacred [spring] !

Come Mulciborus in .^tnean fire ;

Now mould my brain and hammer up my lyre.

It is doubtful whether what follows is part of the
dialogue, but the whole of the fragment appears to
have reference to the death of some distinguished
political person. The verses proceed thus : —

Olympian Hermes, Messenger of Love,

Proclaims the dead in realms above.

Harsh Cronidos shall lay his [sceptre] by,

Forget his Juno and return to cry.

Tartarian Gulphs and never ending Pit

Shall sigh in (?) in Sulphur weep by fit.

Saturnidos with sobs shall swill the plain

And weep o'er all the Earth with scalding rain.

Apollo Phoebus shall forsake his Mount,

And on his Lyre the Hero's praise recount :

The blue-eyed maid upon the Athenian shore.

Shall scold the Pares like a drunken whore ;

Whilst the Parnassidos about their spring.

In verse [lllyrian] shall his praises sing.

The God of War whose father grew in th' Field,

Shall drop a scalding tear upon his Shield :

Affrighted will the Greeks and Trojans run —

Hobbinol. No more, good Thyrsis, see the setting sun
Is driving to the West with saffron ray.
To give to other worlds a welcome day.

202 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Hobbinol. What if a Bard to swell his [shrunken] purse
Shall seem to weep in Want-dictated verse,
And dress the Idol of their crazy brain
In all the virtues of a [Gracchic] strain ;
Lament the fallen Minister of State —
As though a Rogue is good because he's great !
So Puria, when she hears a four hours' toll,
Lamenting cries, " 'Tis for some happy soul ! "
But when the sexton scarcely tolls the bell,
Mutters unmoved, " Some soul is gone to hell ! "

Thyrsis. Uncourtly Shepherd, notions such as [thine]
Won't introduce you with my lord to dine.
Don't ask me why I weep the Hero's fate :
I weep like Puria only for the great.
Hobbinol, thy stories are not known to all. —
But now the chilly dew begins to fall ;
Let's fold our sheep, and bid adieu to woe ..."

Another extract, in continuation of the last speaker's
oration, runs thus : —

So had not Reynardo stept in to save

His sinking country from the threatening wave

Of France and Papal Power, with dreadful roar

This stream had drenched all Albion's land with gore ;

And when he had performed this mighty job,

Damned with a pension, hooted by the mob. ...

Now for a touch at Ministers of State :

Balarto always at his Levee came,

A Caledonian great in Birth and Fame,

Well versed in every kind of courtiers' Laws ;

Could twirl his Lordship's wig, or twist a cause ;

With Rusticus he was a stupid log ;

With Servilus a flattering, fawning dog ;

As pliant wax will any shape retain,

So he conformed to all in hopes of [gain] ;

Like my lord duke he on Newmarket bets,

And like his lordship never pays his debts ;

THE LAND OF PROMISE 203

Can lie like Johnson and with Dodsley pray,
And be a stupid fool with Master Day.

It will be noticed that with the forwardness of
youth eager to display a knowledge of forbidden
things, the young bard ventures in some of his
satires to introduce topics of a nature tabooed
nowadays, but there does not appear to be the
slightest basis for or probability of the suggestion
that Chatterton was leading a dissipated life. His
companion, Thistlethwaite, from whose narrative
extracts have already been made, with reference
to some objectionable passages in the lad's writings,
remarks with much reason : —

" I believe them to have originated rather from a warmth of
imagination, aided by a vain affectation of singularity, than from
any natural depravity or from a heart vitiated by evU example.
The opportunities a long acquaintance with him afforded me,
justify me in saying that while he lived in Bristol he was not
the debauched character represented. Temperate in his living,
moderate in his pleasures, and regular in his exercises, he was
undeserving of the aspersion."

Chatterton's temperate habits are fully testified
to by all who had intimate acquaintance with him,
and he himself, writing to Barrett, at a most critical
moment of his life, with all evident sincerity declares :
" I keep no worse company than myself ; I never
drink to excess, and have, without vanity, too much
sense to be attached to the mercenary retailers of
iniquity." Rarely, if ever, had the poor boy the
means, had he had the inclination to play the
voluptuary : in truth, he carried his ideas of abstinence

204 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

to a hurtful extent, contenting himself with bread and
water, even forgoing these when he had something
of importance to do, saying that " he had work on
hand and must not make himself more stupid than
God had made him." The scantiness of his diet
was noticed not only at Bristol, but at his lodgings
in London, and anything objectionable in his
behaviour would speedily have been discovered and
commented upon in either city. Like most men
of a highly poetic temperament, like Burns, Byron,
Poe, and others, Chatterton not only told the public
his deeds and thoughts upon matters he should have
kept silent about, but like those men he was apt
to exaggerate his real faults, and confess his guilt
of fancied misdeeds, boasting of crimes he had never
committed.

The most important action in Chatterton's short
life was now impending. After having prepared the
way for his capture of the London publishing market,
as has already been explained, the lad left Bristol
for London on or about April 24, 1770. Hitherto
he had never been further away from home than
a holiday walk on his Saturday half-day leaves of
absence. The journey must have been in every
respect a most momentous one for him, as well as
a sad parting for his mother. According to Barrett,
the means for enabling Chatterton to journey to the
metropolis was obtained by subscription, " most of
his friends and acquaintances contributing a guinea
each towards his journey." When the few persons
there can have been able and willing to subscribe
even that small sum each is taken into consideration,

THE LAND OF PROMISE 205

it will appear as if the five guineas estimated by one
of the boy's biographers as the amount collected must
have been well within the limit.

Chatterton appears to have reached the metropolis,
by means of the slow-going coach of those days,
about five o'clock in the afternoon of April 25th. In
his first letter home to his mother he gives an amus-
ing and characteristic description of his journey.
Heading his communication " London, April 26,
1770," he writes : —

Dear Mother, — Here I am, safe, and in high spirits. — To
give you a journal of my tour would not be unnecessary.
After riding in the basket to Brislington, I mounted the top
of the coach, and rid easy ; and was agreeably entertained
with the conversation of a quaker in dress, but little so in
personals and behaviour. This laughing Friend, who is a
carver, lamented his having sent his tools Worcester, as other-
wise he would have accompanied me to London. I left him
at Bath ; when, finding it rained pretty fast I entered an inside
passage to Speenhamland, the halfway stage, paying seven
shillings. 'Twas lucky I did so, for it snowed all night, and on
Marlborough Downs the snow was near a foot high.

At seven in the morning I breakfasted at Speenhamland, and
then mounted the coach-box for the remainder of the day,
which was a remarkably fine one. Honest gee-hoo compli-
mented me with assuring me, that I sat bolder and tighter
than any person who ever rid with him. — Dined at Stroud most
luxuriantly, with a young gentleman who had slept all the
preceding night in the machine ; and an old mercantile genius,
whose schoolboy son had a great deal of wit, as the father
thought, in remarking that Windsor was as old as our Saviour's
time.

Got into London about five in the evening.

Called upon Mr. Edmunds, Mr. Fell, Mr. Hamilton, and
Mr. Dodsley. — Great encouragement from them ; all approved
of my design ; — shall soon be settled. — Call upon Mr. Lambert ;

206 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

show him this or tell him, if I deserve a recommendation, he
would oblige me to give me one — if I do not, it will be beneath
him to take notice of me. Seen all aunts, cousins, all well —
and I am welcome.

Mr. T. Wensley is alive, and coming home. — Sister, grand-
mother, &c., &c., &c., remember.

1 remain,

Your dutiful Son,

T. Chatterton.

The keynote of the whole matter is struck with
the sentence, " Here I am, safe, and in high spirits."
In London and free ! Free, and for the first time
in his Hfe his own master ! Able and willing to
follow the dictates of his own inclination ! He has
lost no time upon his arrival, and if his own words
are to be accepted literally, he has already visited
and has been well received by and obtained verbal
encouragement from his chief London correspon-
dents, all editors and publishers, including the great
Mr. Dodsley himself

The Chattertons had various relatives in London,
amongst whom was a Mrs. Ballance, apparently a
widow, who lodged in Shoreditch, at the house of some
people named Walmsley. The family consisted of
the father, a plasterer, his wife, a niece aged about
seventeen, and a nephew of about fourteen. Walmsley
was a tenant of Sir Herbert Croft, the first biographer
of Chatterton, and seems to have been a hard-
working, decent, good-natured working man, but, of
course, neither he nor any one of his family was
able to comprehend the new member of their house-
hold. Although Chatterton tells his mother in his

THE LAND OF PROMISE 207

second letter home that he lodges in one of Mr.
Walmsley's best rooms, he omits to inform her,
what must have been somewhat annoying to his
pride, and inconvenient for his nocturnal literary
pursuits, that he had to share the room and sleep
with Walmsley's young nephew.

He seems to have really received encouragement
and, apparently, commissions for some work to be
done from the publishers, all of whom knew him
already by name, although they must have been
extremely surprised at his youth when he appeared.
It will be remembered that he had quite recently
forwarded the first portion of a long poem, " Kew
Gardens," to Edmunds, publisher of the Middlesex
journal, who knew that he was " Decimus," a
second kind of " Junius " in his way ; Fell, editor
and printer of the Freeholder s Magazine, who also
belonged to the " Patriot " party, had issued pieces
of Chatterton's in his publication, whilst the lad had
been a constant contributor of miscellaneous kinds
of matter to Hamilton's Town and Country Magazine,
so that he did not come to them unknown or un-
recommended.

He must have taken a collection of manuscripts
to London with him, chiefly consisting of literary and
political essays, and a few poems of the satirical type.
Although poetry was, evidently, of no more pecuni-
ary value in the capital than it was in the provinces,
he could not refrain from beginning with the manu-
facture of verse. Apparently, the piece of his to be
first published after his arrival in town was "The
Candidates," issued in the Middlesex Journal of

208 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

May ist, but dated Bristol, April 27, 1770. This
poem, which has not yet appeared in any collection
of Chatterton's works, is as follows : —

Mad'ning for popularity and place,

The Marquis takes instructions from his Grace ;

Learns how his ancestor in favour trod,

And served himself, his country, and his God :

Went through the labour of a college lord

And stampt his many virtues on record.

Fir'd with the tale, he listens to the tongue

Where once a flower of rhetoric was hung ;

Catches the shadow of the honoured seat,

Will serve his country well, but never treat ;

High in the favour of the ruling powers,

Maitland to honorary glory towers

Happy in accent, dignity and air.

The Princess marks him for the empty chair.

Can he refuse it, when the promised prize

Of futiu-e earldoms dance before his eyes ?

No, Maitland, no ; thy virtue cannot stand

Against the magic of a lib'ral hand ;

Thy stubborn virtue which could never move

To pow'r or favour, must be thaw'd by Love.

Come, Burnaby ; come on, and let us see

The soul of Cato actuating thee ;

As Plato's spirit once was said to pass

From Carteret's venal carcass to an ass.

" Rest on our honours ; " thro' the town 'tis known,

Thou hast a weak supporter in thy own.

No invitation will recall thee now,

Though Dowagers may nod, and Barons bow.

Self-nominated, self-supported stand.

The tool of mischief, in a woman's hand.

Drink thy own porter ; rest upon thy self ;

Enjoy thy Chelsea, infamy and pelf.

Sir Robert comes ; all others die away,

Like glimm'ring tapers at approach of day.

THE LAND OF PROMISE 209

On the 6th of May Chatterton wrote his second
letter home from Shoreditch. In informing his
mother of the various engagements he had secured,
he deems that his pohtical influence has already
become something of importance and that his position
is good. " What a glorious prospect ! " exclaims the
poor bedazzled lad, forgetful of his noble ideals, of
his Rowley and his Canynges, all obscured by the
paltry present : —

Dear Mother, — I am surprised that no letter has been sent
in answer to my last. I am settled, and in such a settlement as
I would desire. I get four guineas a month by one Magazine :
shall engage to write a History of England, and other pieces,
which will more than double that sum. Occasional essays for
the daily papers would more than support me. What a glorious
prospect ! Mr. Wilkes knew me by my writings since I first
corresponded with the booksellers here. I shall visit him next
week, and by his interest will insure Mrs. Ballance the Trinity-
House. He affirmed that what Mr. Fell had of mine could not
be the writings of a youth ; and expressed a desire to know the
author. By the means of another bookseller I shall be intro-
duced to Townshend and Sawbridge. I am quite familiar at
the Chapter Coffee-house, and know all the geniuses there.
A character is now unnecessary ; an author carries his character
in his pen. My sister will improve herself in drawing. My
grandmother is, I hope, well. Bristol's mercenary walls were
never destin'd to hold me — there, I was out of my element, now
I am in it — London ! Good God ! how superior is London to
that despicable place, Bristol ! Here is none of your httle
meannesses, none of your mercenary securities, which disgrace
that miserable hamlet. Dress, which is in Bristol an eternal
fund of scandal, is here only introduced as a subject of taste ;
if a man dresses well, he has taste ; if careless, he has his own
reasons for so doing, and is prudent. Need I remind you of the
contrast ? The poverty of authors is a common observation,
but not always a true one. No author can be poor who

14

210 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

understands the arts of booksellers. Without this necessary
knowledge, the greatest genius may starve ; and with it, the
greatest dunce hve in splendour. This knowledge I have
pretty well dipped into. The Levant man of war, in which
T. Wensley went out, is at Portsmouth ; but no news from him
yet. I lodge in one of Mr. Walmsley's best rooms. Let Mr.
Gary copy the letters on the other side and give them to the
persons for whom they are designed, if not too much labour
for him.

I remain, your's, &c.,

T. Chatterton.

PS. — I have some trifling presents for my mother, sister,
Thorne, &c.

Sunday Morning.

For Mr. T. Cary.

I have sent you a task. I hope no unpleasing one. Tell all
your acquaintance for the future to read the Freeholder's
Magazine. When you have anything for publication, send it to
me, and it shall most certainly appear in some periodical
compilation. Your last piece was, by the ignorance of a
corrector, jumbled under the considerations in the acknow-
ledgments. But I rescued it, and insisted on its appearance.

Your friend,

T. C.
Direct for me, to be left at the Chapter Coffee-house, Pater-
noster-row.

Mr. Henry Kator.

If you have not forgot Lady Betty, any Complaint, Rebus, or
Enigma, on the dear charmer, directed for me, to be left at
the Chapter Coffee-house, Pater-noster-row — shall find a place
in some Magazine or other ; as I am engaged in many.

Your friend,

T. Chatterton.

Mr. William Smith.

When you have any poetry for publication, send it to me,
to be left at the Chapter Coffee-house, Pater-noster-row, and it
shall most certainly appear.

Your friend,

T. C.

THE LAND OF PROMISE 211

Mrs. Baker.

The sooner I see you the better — send me as soon as possible
Rymsdyk's address. (Mr. Gary will leave this at Mr. Flower's,
Small Street.)

Mr. Mason.

Give me a short prose description of the situation of Nash —
and the poetic addition shall appear in some Magazine. Send
me also whatever you would have published, and direct for me,
to be left at the Chapter Coffee-house, Pater-noster-row.

Your friend,

T. Chatterton.

Mr. Mat. Mease.

Begging Mr. Mease's pardon for making public use of his
name lately — I hope he will remember me, and tell all his
acquaintance to read the Freeholder's Magazine for the future.

T. Chatterton.

In another postscript Mr. Gary is desired to tell
Messrs. Thaire, Gaster (Raster ?), A. Broughton,
J. Broughton, Williams, Rudhall, Thomas, Garty,
Hanmer, Vaughan, Ward, Kalo (Kator ?), Smith,
&c. &c., to read the Freeholder s Magazine.

As regards the general contents of the lad's letters
home it is indeed probable that Wilkes, if he did
really say anything about Chatterton s writings, would
be incredulous as to them being the work of a youth,
but it is equally certain that he would not have done
anything for Mrs. Ballance at the Trinity House,
even if he could ; and it is not very likely that
Aldermen Townshend and Sawbridge would have
been interviewed by the lad. These Gity dignitaries
were as difficult to get at as Royalty itself. In other
respects his letter is pleasant reading : it shows how
the lad's heart has not been deadened by his intellect.

212 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

pride, or selfish pleasures. He thinks so much about
the need of those at home, about his sister's education
and his grandmother's health, whilst he does not fail
to remind them that he has presents for all.

Chatterton's enclosures for his various Bristolian
acquaintances are not only intended to show them
that he remembered them but are to prove to them
how very influential he has become in the literary
world of London. It is to be hoped that all his
acquaintances did not comply with his request and
forward him their manuscripts, especially his friend
William Smith, who poured forth verse by the mile,
or he would have been overwhelmed. The notes
Gary was asked to copy were, of course, included in
the letter to his mother to save the heavy postage
charged in those days for each separate enclosure or
letter.

The knowledge obtainable of Chatterton's doings
in London is mainly derivable from his letters home,
supplemented by the sidelights thrown on his habits
and actions by the information furnished to Sir
Herbert Croft by the Walmsleys. Fortunately, Croft,
being Walmsley's landlord, was able to elicit
thoroughly all the information the plasterer and his
family could furnish about Chatterton whilst their
memories were still fresh on the subject. With the
aid of this material it is possible to construct an
approximate picture of the poet's life in London.
Totally unacquainted with the great metropolis and
its people, and devoid of all knowledge of the so-called
" upper classes " and their ways, this aspiring youth,
this ambitious apprentice boy, comes to the capital

THE LAND OF PROMISE 213

city of the kingdom, to earn fame and fortune by
lecturing statesmen and reprimanding Royalty, and to
accomplish all this he takes up his abode with a
plasterer in the unknown regions of Shoreditch,
whilst sharing the bed of a young, probably un-
educated mechanic, and the board of a poor widow.

The household, where he had one of their "best
rooms," appears to have consisted of honest, hard-
working people, and upon them the young lodger
seems to have made a favourable impression. The
recorder of their reminiscences and opinions furnishes
their information in their own words, and no better
plan can be followed than repeating them.

Mrs. Ballance, who was related to Chatterton in
some unknown way, had persuaded the Walmsleys
to accept him as a lodger. She describes him "as
proud as Lucifer," says he quarrelled with her for
calling him "Cousin Tommy," asking her if she had
ever heard of a poet being called " Tommy." She
assured him she " knew nothing of poets and only
wished he would not set up for a gentleman." When
he had been in London for two or three weeks Mrs.
Ballance recommended him to get a situation in some
office, upon which " he stormed about the room like a
madman, and frightened her not a little, by telling
her, he hoped, with the blessing of God, very soon to
be sent prisoner to the Tower, which would make his
fortune."

Mr. Walmsley's report was that there was "some-
thing manly and pleasing about him, and that he did
not dislike the wenches," which was supplemented by
Mrs. Walmsley's statement that "she never saw any

214 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

harm of him — he never mislisted her." He "was
always very civil, whenever they met in the house by
accident ; that he would never suffer the room, in
which he used to read and write, to be swept, because
he said ' poets hated brooms.' She told him she did
not know anything poet-folks were good for, but to
sit in a dirty cap and gown in a garret, and at last to
be starved ; that during the nine weeks he was at her
house he never stayed out after the family hours, except
once, when he did not come home all night, and had
been, she heard, ' poetting ' a song about the streets."
That night, Mrs. Ballance said, she knows he lodged
at a relation's, because Mr. Walmsley's house was
shut up when he came home.

The plasterer's niece said, for her part, she always
took Chatterton " more for a mad boy than for any-
thing else, he would have such flights and vagaries ; "
and that " but for his face and her knowledge of his
age, she should never have thought him a boy, he
was so manly, and so much himself^ " No woman
came after him, nor did she know of any connexion ;
but still he was a sad rake, and terribly fond of
women, and would sometimes be saucy to her. He
ate what he chose to have with his relation, Mrs.
Ballance, who lodged in the house, but he never
touched meat, and drank only water, and seemed to
live on the air." She added that he was good-tempered
and agreeable and obliging, but sadly proud and
haughty ; nothing was too good for him, nor was any-
thing to be too good for his grandmother, mother and
sister hereafter. " He had such a proud spirit as to
send the china, &c.," to be mentioned in his letter

THE LAND OF PROMISE 215

home of the 8th of July, " to his grandmother, &c., at
a time when the niece knew he was almost in want.
He used to sit up almost all night reading and writing.
. . . Her brother said he was afraid to lie with him ;
for, to be sure, he was a spirit, and never slept ; for
he never came to bed till it was morning, and then,
for what he saw, never closed his eyes."

Chatterton's bedfellow, during the first six weeks he
lodged there, says that " notwithstanding his pride
and haughtiness, it was impossible to help liking him ;
that he lived chiefly upon a bit of bread, or a tart, and
some water ; but he once or twice saw him take a
sheep's tongue out of his pocket. Chatterton, to his
knowledge, never slept while they lay together ; that
he never came to bed till very late, sometimes three
or four o'clock, and was always awake when he [the
nephew] waked ; and got up at the same time, about
five or six. Almost every morning the floor was
covered with pieces of paper not so big as sixpences,
into which he had torn what he had been writing
before he came to bed." " In short, they all agree,"
says Croft, " that no one would have taken him, from
his behaviour, &c., to have been a poor boy, and a
sexton's \sic\ son. They never saw such another
person before nor since : he appeared to have some-
thing wonderful about him. They say he gave no
reason for quitting their house. They found the floor
of his room covered with little pieces of paper, the
remains of his 'poettings,' as they term it."

All this time Chatterton was indeed busy with his
pen, whether by night or by day, writing those essays
which might, as he told Mrs. Ballance, get him sent

216 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

as a prisoner to the Tower ; or, as he told his mother
in his next letter home, get him tried by the House of
Lords, as he said Edmunds, one of his publishers,
was, and sent to Newgate. And he was still hanker-
ing after "poettings," although without his glossary
of old words he did not seem confident enough to
resuscitate any more Rowleys. Amongst the unknown
and unedited versifications of this period are the
following lines, " To the Society at Spring Gardens,"
published in the Middlesex Journal: —

To you, by genius prompted to display,
That what was darkness now refines to day:
To you whose skilful exhibitions show
How little royal favour can bestow.
To you an Englishman presumes to send
The warmest wishes of a real friend.

Whilst blushing for the errors of his K

He dares the praise, which worth deserves to sing.

When adverse parties claim the public eye.

And in their gildings with your pictures vie :

Whilst execrable daubings sickly shine

With ornaments of gold and frames divine.

Gods ! what a murmur of applauding joy

Hums thro' the crew, and elevates the toy ;

Whilst the vile artist, conscious of his fame,

Pilfers his reputation from the frame.

Allow it, no appearance of design,

No composition, no strong colouring shine,

In all the group which nauseates the sight,

Were they not settled in a partial light ?

Were not the gildings in the newest taste ?

All is complete, and fancifully placed !

You happy artists of this growing isle,

Too, too deserving for the royal smile ;

When wretched exhibitions, such as these

Catch approbation, and do more than please.

THE LAND OF PROMISE 217

Your manly elegance of taste and art,
Your noble, rational and glorious part ;
Your known superiority of taste
Is not by such absurd neglect disgraced.

The judgment of a K may get a name,

But 'tis not patents can ensure us fame.

Search the dull trash, which sharping parsons give,

As comments to instruct us how to live :

These bible murderers, and not these alone,

Can boast a patent patron in the throne.

Dull rascals just, and dreaming writers sing

All by authority, and by the K .

Then, when the prostituted smile goes down
To all the venal hirelings of the town.

Thank Heaven His M has not your taste :

Thank heaven, you are not by his smile disgraced.
May 9, 1770. C.

The lines are nothing wonderful for Chatterton, and
refer to some forgotten incident. A few days after
the appearance of his versified address to " the
Society," the young author wrote the following amus-
ing letter to his mother. The good woman would
be more startled than amused at the stately way in
which her absent boy addressed her : —

King's Bench, for the present,
May 14, 1770.
Dear Madam, — Don't be surprised at the name of the place.
I am not here as a prisoner. Matters go on swimmingly :
Mr. Fell having offended certain persons, they have set his
creditors upon him, and he is safe in the King's Bench. I have
been bettered by this accident : his successors in the Free-
holder's Magazine knowing nothing of the matter, will be glad
to engage me, on my own terms. Mr. Edmunds has been
tried before the House of Lords, sentenced to pay a fine, and
thrown into Newgate. His misfortunes will be to me of no
little service. Last week, being in the pit of Drury-Lane

218 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Theatre, I contracted an immediate acquaintance (which you
know is no^hard task to me) with a young gentleman in Cheap-
side ; partner in a music shop, the greatest in the city. Hearing
I could write, he desired me to write a few songs for him :
this I did the same night, and conveyed them to him the next
morning. These he showed to a Doctor in Music, and I am
invited to treat with this Doctor, on the footing of a composer,
for Ranelagh and [the Gardens. Bravo, hey boys, up we go !
— Besides the advantage of visiting these expensive and polite
places gratis ; my vanity will be fed with the sight of my name
in copper-plate, and my sister will receive a bundle of printed
songs, the words by her brother. These are not all my acquisi-
tions ; a gentleman who knows me at the Chapter, as an
author, would have introduced me as a companion to the young
Duke of Northumberland, in his intended general tour. But,
alas ! I spake no tongue but my own ! — But to return once
more to a place I am sickened to write of, Bristol. Though,
as an apprentice, none had greater liberties, yet the thoughts
of servitude killed me : now I have that for my labour I always
reckoned the first of my pleasures, and have still, my liberty.
As to the Clearance, I am ever ready to give it ; but really I
understand so little of the law, that I believe Mr. Lambert must
draw it. Mrs. L. brought what you mentioned. Mrs. Hughes
is as well as age will permit her to be, and my cousin does
very well.

I will get some patterns worth your acceptance, and wish
you and my sister would improve yourselves in drawing, as it
is here a valuable and never-failing acquisition. — My box shall
be attended to ; I hope my books are in it — if not, send them ;
and particularly Catcott's Hutchinsonian jargon on the Deluge,
and the MS Glossary, composed of one small book, annexed to
a larger. — My sister will remember me to Miss Sandford. I
have not quite forgot her ; though there are so many pretty
miUiners, &c., that I have almost forgot myself. — Carty will
think on me : upon inquiry I find his trade dwindled into
nothing here. A man may very nobly starve by it ; but he
must have luck indeed, who can live by it. — Miss Rumsey, if
she comes to London, would do well as an old acquaintance,
to send me her address. — London is not Bristol. — We may
patrole the town for a day, without raising one whisper, or nod

THE LAND OF PROMISE 219

of scandal. — If she refuses, the curse of all antiquated virgins
light on her : may she be refused when she shall request !
Miss Rumsey will tell Miss Baker, and Miss Baker will tell
Miss Porter, that Miss Porter's favoured humble servant,
though but a young man, is a very old lover ; and in
the eighth and fiftieth year of his age : but that, as Lappet
says, is the flower of a man's days ; and when a lady can't get
a young husband, she must put up with an old bed-fellow. I
left Miss Singer, I am sorry to say it, in a very bad way ; that is,
in a way to be married. — But mum. — Ask Miss Suky Webb the
rest ; if she knows, she'll tell ye . — I beg her pardon for reveal-
ing the secret ; but when the knot is fastened, she shall know
how I came by it. — Miss Thatcher may depend upon it, that
if I am not in love with her, I am in love with nobody else : I
hope she is well ; and if that whining, sighing, dying pulpit-fop,
Lewis, has not finished his languishing lectures, I hope she will
see her amoroso next Sunday. If Miss Love has no objection
to having a crambo song on her name published, it shall be
done.— Begging pardon of Miss Cotton for whatever has hap-
pened to offend her, I can assure her it has happened without
my consent. I did not give her this assurance when in Bristol,
lest it should seem like an attempt to avoid the anger of her
furious brother. Inquire, when you can, how Miss Broughton
received her billet. Let my sister send me a journal of all the
transactions of the females within the circle of your acquaint-
ance. Let Miss Watkins know, that the letter she made herself
ridiculous by, was never intended for her ; but for another
young lady in the neighbourhood, of the same name. I pro-
mised, before my departure, to write to some hundreds, I
believe ; but, what with writing for publications, and going to
places of public diversion, which is as absolutely necessary to
me as food, I find but little time to write to you. As to Mr.
Barrett, Mr. Catcott, Mr. Burgum, &c. &c. they rate literary
lumber so low, that I believe an author, in their estimation,
must be poor indeed 1 But here matters are otherwise ; had
Rowley been a Londoner, instead of a Bristowyan, I could
have lived by copying his works. — In my humble opinion, I am
under very few obhgations to any person in Bristol : one,
indeed, has obliged me ; but as most do, in a manner which
makes his obligation no obhgation. — My youthful acquaintance

220 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

will not take it in dudgeon, that I do not write oftener to them,
than I believe I shall : but, as I had the happy art of pleasing
in conversation, my company was often liked, where I did not
like : and to continue a correspondence under such circum-
stances, would be ridiculous. Let my sister improve in copying
music, drawing, and every thing which requires genius ; in
Bristol's mercantile style those things may be useless, if not a
detriment to her ; but here they are highly profitable. Inform
Mr. Rhise that nothing shall be wanting, on my part, in the
business he was so kind as to employ me in ; should be glad of
a line from him, to know whether he would engage in the
marine department ; or spend the rest of his days, safe, on dry
ground. Intended waiting on the Duke of Bedford relative to
the Trinity House ; but his Grace is dangerously ill. My
grandmother, I hope, enjoys the state of health I left her in.
I am Miss Webb's humble servant. Thorne shall not be forgot,
when I remit the small trifles to you. Notwithstanding Mrs.
B's not being able to inform me of Mr. Garsed's address,
through the closeness of the pious Mr. Ewer, I luckily stumbled
upon it this morning.

Thomas Chatterton.

Monday Evening.

(Direct for me, at Mr. Walmsley's, at Shoreditch — only.)

Some few remarks in the preceding letter call for
notice. It will be seen that Chatterton tells his
mother of having contracted " an immediate aquaint-
ance," which, he says, "you know is no hard task
for me," thus confirming the contention that naturally
he was amiable and attractive, instead of being
normally the gloomy and repellant youth some persons
have represented him to be. The Doctor of Music
to whom his songs were shown, and whom he was
invited to treat with, was Dr. Samuel Arnold, the
composer, and " the Gardens" he was to write songs
for was Marylebone, The upshot of the affair was
the production of "The Revenge," a burletta, by

THE LAND OF PROMISE 221

Chatterton, of which more hereafter. The poet's
exclamation, " alas, I spake no language but my
own ! " although literally true, must not be considered
as a statement that he did not understand any French,
or Latin, as written.

His copy of the Rev. Alexander Catcott's work
on "The Deluge" was badly needed, as it contained
several of Chatterton's manuscript poems which had
not been printed and which he, probably, now saw
a prospect of making use of. Eventually this very
volume found its way to the Bodleian Library, where
it is now preserved. His manuscript Glossary was
of still greater importance to him, and it is strange
that in his departure from Bristol, however hurriedly
it may have been, he had left it behind. It was
the secret key, the finger-post to " the Rowley
Romance," containing as it did all the mediaeval
words, with their modern meanings, which he had
so carefully extracted from Bailey, from Speght and
others, and without which he does not seem to have
been able to produce any transcripts from his cabinet
of antiquities.

Chatterton's words home about the many girls he
seemed to have been acquainted with prove that
they were only acquaintances ; that they must have
been respectable girls, or he would not have named
them to his mother as he did ; and that above all
he was still fancy free, at least as regards all of them.
Probably, his mother, in her letters to him, must have
reported something which had been said about his
indebtedness to certain persons in Bristol to have
drawn from him the words, "In my humble opinion

222 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

I am under very few obligations to any person in
Bristol : one, indeed, has obliged me ; but as most
do, in a manner which makes his obligation no
obligation." His anxiety to impress upon his mother,
whose communications may have been sent with a
somewhat humble direction, that letters should be
addressed to him at Shoreditch, and not to the
Chapter Coffee-House, where his literary and other
new London acquaintances might see them, is
comprehensible. And, doubtless, they would often
reach him much sooner at the Walmsleys, where he
was every night and day, than at a popular Coffee-
House, where it might not always be convenient
for him to make his appearance.

By this time the enthusiastic but continually
disappointed young author had begun to discover
the difficulty of living by the product of his pen. In
his next letter home, to his sister, it can be seen
how thoroughly he had found out the impossibility
of existing, even in his thrifty way, by his political
writings, and by the records in the pocket-book
given him by his sister when he left home, in which
he kept his miniature cash account, it will be palpable
to every one how grossly he was robbed, and how
his boyish inexperience was taken advantage of by
the men he wrote for. This pitiful record of her
brother was eventually presented to Joseph Cottle
by Mrs. Newton, in grateful acknowledgment of the
sum of money he handed to her as a first payment
out of the profits on her brother's works, as edited
by Southey and Cottle. In his two- volume collection
of his own literary odds and ends, issued in 1829,

THE LAND OF PROMISE

223

Cottle set forth a statement which he asserted was
a copy of the cash entries made in the pocket-book
by Chatterton, but as Cottle's account differs widely
from the real entries made, it is desirable that a
proper transcript of them should be given. By the
generous permission of the Committee of the Bristol
Museum, in whose possession this most interesting
relic of the young poet now is, the following memo-
randa are furnished :•—

Week 17.

Memorandums, &c. Amount of Monies Received.
April 24th to May 7th.

Lent.

May 2d.

Of Mr. Hamilton for

£

S.

d.

£

s.

d.

Candidate and Foreign

Intel.

2

Of Mr. Fell for Resigned (sic)
Court and City gratis
London Magaz.

10

6

6

Middlesex Journal
9th. London Packet.

8

6

Of Mr. Fell

Middlesex Journal.
i6th. Songs
Mr. Hamilton'

u

11
10

6

Of course, Cottle must have been mistaken with
regard to the last entry, although he has been copied
by all later biographers, including Professor Wilson,
who naturally falls on to Mr. Hamilton for making
a tool of the inexperienced youth, and paying him

' Cottle printed this item as " Mr. Hamilton, for i6 Songs,
los. 6d.," and made some very strong animadversions upon it,
but, as the Rev. Arthur Robins, of Matlock, has pointed out,
^hc entry should read as shown above.

224

THE TRUE CHATTERTON

rather less than eightpence each for sixteen songs.
Wretched and scandalous as Chatterton's so-called
remuneration was, as the statement above proves,
it could scarcely have been quite so disgraceful.
Besides, sixteen songs is a strange purchase, and rapid
and fluent as Chatterton was, he could scarcely have
produced so many lyrics at that time, when he was
writing prose by the yard.

A second leaf in the pocket-book carries the tell-
tale account on thus : —

Amount of Monies.

Received.

Lent.

/:

s.

d.

f.

S.

d.

Reed, to May 23 of Mr.

Hamilton for Middlesex

I

11

6

2

Due from others

10

17

6

I

6

Reed, of B.

I

2

■^

—

—

—

Of Fell for Consuliad

10

6

It would be deeply interesting to have had the
account up to the end of his career, as it would have
thrown light upon his real pecuniary position, but, as it
is, there could but have been displayed terrible poverty
and all its attendant misery. For his first month in
London it will be seen that his total receipts were
only £/^ 15s. gd., including the ;i^i 2S. 3d. credited
to the anonymous Mr. B. (Barrett ?). On the 6th of
July he received five guineas from Mr. Atterbury,
for the copyright of " The Revenge," and, possibly,
he obtained other smaller sums elsewhere during the
remainder of his laborious life in London ; but it
is seen that he immediately expended a considerable

THE LAND OF PROMISE 225

portion of the money paid for his burletta in the
purchase of presents for the loved ones at home,
whilst there is every reason to believe that no part
of the £io 17s. 6d. "due from others " ever came to
him. The small sums lent scarcely call for comment :
they must have been given to those as poor as the
lender.

The memorandum-book, apparently a Lady's Pocket
Book for 1769, also contains a record of the various
political letters Chatterton wrote whilst in the
metropolis. This list is valuable as proving which
of the letters ascribed to him are really his, and
which of them are not, amongst the latter being
those attributed to his pen by Horace Walpole, who
based some of his bitterest libels on the unfortunate
youth upon this imputed authorship ; upon the letters
which no one but Walpole ever heard of or knew
anything about !

Chatterton's next letter home, written to his sister,
and dated May 30, 1770, is addressed from Tom's
Coffee- House, in those days a well-known place of
resort for literary men. It runs thus : —

Tom's Coffee-House, May 30//1, 1770.
Dear Sister, — There is such a noise of business and pohticks
in the room, that my inaccuracy in writing here is highly ex-
cusable. My present profession obliges me to frequent places
of the best resort. To begin with, what every female con-
versation begins with, dress : I employ my money now in
fitting myself fashionably, and getting into good company ; this
last article always brings me interest. But I have engaged to
live with a gentleman, the brother of a Lord (a Scotch one
indeed), who is going to advance pretty deeply into the book-
selling branches : I shall have lodging and boarding, genteel
and elegant, gratis : this article, in the quarter of the town he

15

226 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

lives, with worse accommodations, would be ^£^0 per annum.
I shall have, likewise, no inconsiderable premium ; and assure
yourself every month shall end to your advantage : I will send
you two silks this summer ; and expect, in answer to this, what
colours you prefer. My mother shall not be forgotten. My
employment will be writing a voluminous History of London,
to appear in numbers the beginning of the next winter. As
this will not, like writing political essays, oblige me to go to the
coffee-house, I shall be able to serve you the more by it ; but
it will necessitate me to go to Oxford, Cambridge, Lincoln,
Coventry, and every collegiate church near ; not at all dis-
agreeable journeys, and not to me expensive. The Manuscript
Glossary I mentioned in my last must not be omitted. If money
flowed as fast upon me as honours I would give you a portion
of ^5,000. You have doubtless heard of the Lord Mayor's
remonstrating and addressing the King : but it will be a piece
of news to inform you that I have been with the Lord Mayor
on the occasion. Having addressed an essay to his Lordship,
it was very well received ; perhaps better than it deserved ;
and I waited on his Lordship to have his approbation to
address a second letter to him, on the subject of the remon-
strance and its reception. His Lordship received me as
politely as a citizen could ; and warmly invited me to call on
him again. The rest is a secret. — But the devil of the matter
is, there is no money to be got on this side of the question.
Interest is on the other side. But he is a poor author, who
cannot write on both sides. I believe I may be introduced
(and if I am not, I'll introduce myself) to a ruUng power in
the Court party. I might have a recommendation to Sir George
Colebrook, an East India Director, as qualified for an office
no ways despicable ; but I shall not take a step to the sea,
whilst I can continue on land. I went yesterday to Woolwich
to see Mr. Wensley ; he is paid to-day. The artillery is no
unpleasant sight, if we bar reflection and do not consider how much
mischief it may do. Greenwich Hospital and St. Paul's Cathedral
are the only structures which could reconcile me to any thing
out of the Gothic. Mr. Carty will hear from me soon : mul-
tiplicity of literary business must be my excuse. I condole
with him, and my dear Miss Sandford, in the misfortunes of
Mrs, Carty : my physical advice is, to leech her temples plenti-

\VI1.1.IA?>1 BICCKKOKI.*, LORD MAYOR OF I.ONLiGN".
From ;in edgravint:; of Moore's statue.

THE LAND OF PROMISE 227

fully : keep her very low in diet ; as much in the dark as
possible. Nor is this last prescription the advice of an old
woman : whatever hurts the eyes, affects the brain : and the
particles of light, when the sun is in the summer signs, are
highly prejudicial to the eyes ; and it is from this sympathetic
effect, that the head-ache is general in summer. But, above
all, talk to her but little, and never contradict her in anything.
This may be of service. I hope it will. Did a paragraph
appear in your paper of Saturday last, mentioning the in-
habitants of London's having opened another view of St. Pauls ;
and advising the corporation, or vestry of Redcliffe, to procure
a more complete view of Redclift Church ? My compliments
to Miss Thatcher : if I am in love I am ; though the devil take
me if I can tell with whom it is. I believe I may address
her in the words of Scripture, which no doubt she reveres ;
" If you had not ploughed with my heifer," (or bullock rather)
" you had not found out my riddle." Humbly thanking Miss
Rumsey for her complimentary expression, I cannot think it
satisfactory. Does she, or does she not, intend coming to
London ? Mrs. O'Coffin has not yet got a place ; but there
is not the least doubt but she will in a little time.

Essay-writing has this advantage, you are sure of constant
pay ; and when you have once wrote a piece which makes
the author enquired after, you may bring the booksellers to
your own terms. Essays on the patriotic side fetch no more
than what the copy is sold for. As the patriots themselves
are searching for a place, they have no gratuities to spare.
So says one of the beggars, in a temporary alteration of mine,
in the "Jovial Crew" : —

A patriot was my occupation.
It got me a name but no pelf :
Till, starv'd for the good of the nation,
I begg'd for the good of myself.

Fal, lal, &c.

I told them, if 'twas not for me,
Their freedoms would all go to pot ;
I promis'd to set them all free,
But never a farthing I got.

Fal, lal, &c.

228 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

On the other hand, unpopular essays will not even be
accepted, and you must pay to have them printed ; but then
you seldom lose by it. Courtiers are so sensible of their
deficiency in merit, that they generally reward all who know
how to daub them with the appearance of it. To return to
private affairs. — Friend Slude may depend upon my endeavour-
ing to find the publications you mention. They publish the
Gospel Magazine here. For a whim I write in it. I believe
there are not any sent to Bristol ; they are hardly worth the
carriage — methodistical and unmeaning. With the usual cere-
monies to my mother and grandmother ; and sincerely, without
ceremony, wishing them both happy ; when it is in my power
to make them so, it shall be so ; and with my kind remembrance
to Miss Webb and Miss Thome,

I remain, as I ever was,

Yours, &c. to the end of the chapter,

Thomas Chatterton.

PS. I am at this moment pierced through the heart by the
black eye of a young lady, driving along in a hackney-coach.
I am quite in love : if my love lasts till that time, you shall
hear of it in my next.

Much in this letter must be accepted with reserve,
for, despite his character for veracity, it is to be feared
that the youth was deceiving the dear ones at home
as to his position and earnings. Much of what he
describes in this letter, and in his other letters, for the
matter of that, was, doubtless, as visionary and illusive
as Rowley and his surroundings. Can it be believed
that the poor lad who was .subsisting on bread and
water, varied only by an occasional banquet on a
sheep's tongue, and whose earnings are computed to
have been, even taking matters at the best, only a
pound a week, was " dressing fashionably and getting
into good company," was engaged to be companion
to the brother of a well-off lord, and was about to

THE LAND OF PROMISE 229

undertake journeys to various cathedral towns ? His
visit to the Lord Mayor and his lordship's warm
invitation to call again appear scarcely as real as
Canynges's compliments to Rowley. All these state-
ments have been accepted as facts by the biographers,
and may have deluded his relatives, but surely men
of the world should know better. There is no little
difficulty for the well-groomed and substantial-looking
person to interview these high and mighty men, much
more for a poor provincial lad who had not so much
as committed anything criminal enough to justify
a presentation to the chief magistrate of the first
city in the world. It can scarcely be doubted but
that the lad drew upon his imagination when telling
the anxious ones at home of his great deeds and
grand acquaintances.

More probability is apparent when Chatterton
returns to his literary experiences, and then one is
permitted to see where the shoe pinches. Money
is scarce although honours are plentiful. There is
no money to be got out of the " patriotic " party, and
"as the patriots themselves are searching for a place,
they have no gratuities to spare." How different it
all is from the good old days of Rowley and Canynges !
How the glare of London life shows up all the seamy
side even for this poor lad ! A little of the Bristol
boy breaks out now and then, as when he gives free
" physical " advice for Mrs. Carty, and when he so
sincerely wishes his mother and grandmother happy,
uttering, as if with a sob in the words, the ever vain
aspiration, "when it is in my power to make them
so, it shall be so."

230 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

It is so much better to read of the home Hfe in
the RedcHff house or to have the ideal Rowley circle
conjured up for us, than to have to wade through
all the scandal about Lord Bute and the Dowager
Princess, and about Dr. Johnson and his pension, and
the hundred and one tales, all more or less lies
invented for party purposes, told in prose or verse.
Such pieces as " Kew Gardens," " Resignation," and
so forth, may even be amongst the best of their kind
of writing, but none is of a kind a poet's well-wisher
would encourage. The best that can be said of it
is that it shows how thoroughly Chatterton could
assimilate the tastes of his time and perpetuate them
for the diversion of a later age. But Poetry and
Politics cannot exist together.

Of course, there are many good lines in such a
poem as " Kew Gardens," and many expressions of
wonderful worldly discernment for a young provincial
lad with only such education as Chatterton had
received. It is disputed when " Kew Gardens," its
author's longest acknowledged poem, was written,
and as Chatterton mentions it in his "Will," it is
considered certain that he had composed it before
April, 1770, when that document was produced. But
"Kew Gardens " is really made up from various
shorter pieces, written from time to time, and by
slight revisions joined to one another, so that its
growth went on for several months. As might be
expected, this style of manufacture gives the poem
an unequal value ; some inserted passages being
better and others not so good as the earliest verses.
It is curious to discover that discarded portions of the

THE LAND OF PROMISE 231

earliest version of " Kew Gardens" are reproduced in
some of Chatterton's later pieces, as if, when his
inspiration had failed him, he had resorted to rejected
fragments of a more critical period of composition to
fill up empty spaces. The opening lines of the poem,
having reference to imputed infamy in " high life,"
are characteristic of Chatterton's political satires, and
may be quoted : —

Hail Kew ! thou darling of the tuneful nine ;
Thou eating-house of verse, where poets dine ;
The temple of the idol of the great.
Sacred to council — mysteries of state.
Sir Gilbert, oft, in dangerous trials known,
To make the shame and felony his own,
Burns incense on thy altars, and presents
The grateful sound of clamorous discontents.
In the bold favour of thy goddess vain.
He brandishes his sword and shakes his chain.
He knows her secret workings and desires,
Her hidden attributes and vestal fires ;
Like an old oak has seen her godhead fall
Beneath the wild descendant of Fingal,
And happy in the view of promised store
Forgot his dignity and held the door.

The old libels and long-forgotten scandals here
paraded for the delectation of the poet's readers can
scarcely stir the curiosity of any one nowadays, and
what is witty is too repugnant to modern taste to
justify quotation. Nevertheless, as the production
of one so youthful and inexperienced in what is
regarded as "life," many passages are interesting as
typical of his general knowledge. The aptness of the
author's allusions and the wide range of subjects he

232 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

refers to are marvellous for one of his age and
position. The most amusing feature of these satirical
pieces of his is the seriousness with which he couples
the notabilities of the metropolis with the nonentities
of his native city : in his eyes all men are equal.
Any one will serve as a peg on which to hang his
pasquinades. Thus, when really desirous of attacking
Bristol and the Bristolians, he censures Henry Jones,
a local rhymester, author of verses on " Clifton,"
" Kew Gardens," and other places sung also by
Chatterton : —

Thy "Clifton," too ! how justly is the theme
As much the poet's as his jingling dream.
Who, but a Muse inventive, great, hke thine,
Could honour Bristol with a nervous Une ?

Did not thy iron conscience blush to write
This Tophet of the gentle arts polite ?
Lost to all learning, elegance and sense.
Long had the famous city told her pence ;
Avarice sat brooding in her white-washed cell,
And Pleasure had a hut at Jacob's Well. '

A mean assembly-room, absurdly built,
Boasted one gorgeous lamp of copper gilt.
With farthing candles, chandeliers of tin.
And services of water, rum and gin.
There in the dull solemnity of wigs,
The dancing bears of commerce murder jigs ;
Here dance the dowdy belles of crooked trunk
And often, very often, reel home drunk ;
Here dance the bucks with infinite delight.
And club to pay the fiddlers for the night,

' Where the old Bristol Theatre stood.

THE LAND OF PROMISE 233

While Broderip's hum-drum symphonies of flats
Rival the harmony of midnight cats . . .
With scraps of ballad tunes, and gude Scotch sangs
Which god-like Ramsay to his bagpipe twangs,
With tattered fragments of forgotten plays.
With Playford's melody to Sternhold's lays,
This pipe of science, mighty Broderip comes,
And a strange, unconnected jumble thrums.
Roused to devotion in a sprightly air.
Danced into piety, and jigged to prayer ;
A modern hornpipe's murder greets our ears.
The heavenly music of domestic spheres.

Sleep spreads his silken wings, and lulled by sound,

The vicar slumbers, and the snore goes round ;

Whilst Broderip at his passive organ groans

Through all his slow variety of tones.

How unlike Allen ! Allen is divine !

His touch is sentimental, tender, fine ;

No little affectations e'er disgraced

His more refined, his sentimental taste :

He keeps the passions with the sound in play.

And the soul trembles with the trembling key.'

Unfortunately many of the allusions in these lines
are incomprehensible to the general, modern reader,
unless he is conversant with the period and persons
connected with Chatterton's own story. It may be
pointed out that Broderip, upon whose performance
Chatterton is so severe, was a Bristol organist who
is said to have offended the poet by turning him
out of the organ-loft, whilst of Allen the lad was
a great admirer, and in a letter to his friend Cary
eulogises him greatly, declaring that what the architect

' In Somersetshire " key " is pronounced " kay," and in the
poet's time was considered a good rhyme to " play."

234 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

of St. Mary Redcliff was in building so Allen is in
music, than which no greater praise could probably
be given by Chatterton.

Some few lines further on Chatterton has a fling
at Dr. Johnson, who appears, through some unknown
reason, to have incurred his dislike, so often does
he rail at him in his verse : —

Hail, Inspiration ! whose mysterious wings
Are strangers to what rigid Johnson sings ;
By him thy airy voyages are curbed,
Nor moping wisdom's by thy flight disturbed ;
To ancient lore and musty precepts bound,
Thou art forbid the range of fairy ground.
Irene ' creeps so classical and dry,
None but a Greek philosopher can cry ;
Through five long acts unlettered heroes sleep,
And critics by the square of learning weep.
Hark ! what's the horrid bellowing from the stage,
Oh ! 'tis the ancient chorus of the age ;
Grown wise, the judgment of the town refines,
And in a philosophic habit shines ;
Models each pleasure in scholastic taste,
And heavenly Greece is copied and disgraced.

A certain dandy divine having disgusted the poet
by his fopperies in the pulpit, is thus pilloried : —

Soft [Robins ?] undeniably a saint,
Whimpers in accent so extremely faint,
You see the substance of his empty prayer,
His nothing to the purpose in his air ;
His sermons have no arguments, 'tis true,
Would you have sense and pretty figures too ?

• The name of a tragedy by Samuel Johnson.

THE LAND OF PROMISE 235

With what a swimming elegance and ease

He scatters out distorted similes !

It matters not how wretchedly applied,

Saints are permitted to set sense aside.

This oratorial novelty in town

Dies into fame and ogles to renown ;

The dowdy damsels of his chosen tribe

Are feed to heaven, his person is the bribe ;

All who can superficial talk admire.

His vanity, not beauty, sets on fire.

However, as Chatterton says, " Enough of
Robins ! " From the Bristol parson the young
satirist turns to an English peer and, voicing the
views of the multitude, deplores the acceptance of
a peerage by the people's favourite, Pitt: —

Chatham, whose patriotic actions wear
One single brand of infamy — the peer ;
Whose popularity again thinks fit
To lose the coronet, revive the Pitt ;
And in the Upper House, (where leading peers
Practise a minuet step, or scratch their ears),
He warmly undertakes to plead the cause
Of injured liberty and broken laws.

Forsaking patriots and politics, the poet passes on
to literature and its surroundings. Ignoring " Kew
Gardens," he now deals with " The Row," the
sanctum of the book world, and refers to the diffi-
culty of getting editors or publishers to read " the
wild excursions of the Muse," exclaiming, as have so
many friendless authors before and since the days of
Chatterton, "Alas, I was not born beyond the Tweed!"

Touching on politicians, musicians, authors, and
others, the poem drags its slow length along, some-

236 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

times having a smack at "pensioned Johnson," a
rap at Bishop Newton, or the Catcotts, or Mayor
Harris, or invoking Pitt, or sneering at Bute, treating
grandees and nobodies with equal consideration.
The Bristol clergy loom large in his sarcastic lines.
Bishop Newton, Dean Barton, and many minor
ecclesiastics having to undergo judgment in his
irreverent verse. In youthful audacity he demands —

Unless a wise ellipsis intervene,
How shall I satirise the sleepy dean ?
Perhaps the Muse might fortunately strike
A highly finished picture very like ;
But deans are all so lazy, dull, and fat,
None could be certain worthy Barton sat.
Come then, my Newton,' leave the musty lines,
Where Revelation's farthing- candle shines ;
In search of hidden truths let others go —
Be thou the fiddler to my puppet-show.
What are these hidden truths but secret lies,
Which from diseased imaginations rise ?
What if our politicians should succeed
In fixing up the ministerial creed,
Who could such golden arguments refuse.
Which melt and proselyte the hardened Jews ?
When universal reformation bribes
With words and wealthy metaphors the tribes,
To empty pews the brawny chaplain swears,
Whilst none but trembling superstition hears.
When ministers, with sacerdotal hands,
Baptize the flock in streams of golden sands,
Through every town Conversion wings her way,
And Conscience is a prostitute to pay.

From ministers of the Church to ministers of the
State his saucy muse wings its flight. After sarcasti-
' Bishop of Bristol, author of a work " On the Prophecies."

THE LAND OF PROMISE 237

cally asking pardon from Freedom for reference to
the standard by which Lord Mansfield measures
his conscience, when it is so well known "that
Mansfield has no conscience, none at all ! " Chatterton
proceeds : —

Pardon me, Freedom, this and something more,
The knowing writer might have known before :
But bred in Bristol's mercenary cell,
Compelled in scenes of avarice to dwell.
What generous passion can my dross refine ?
What besides interest can direct the line ?
And should a galling truth like this, be told
By one, instructed how to slave for gold,
My prudent neighbours (who can read) would see
Another Savage ' to be starved in me.

It is worth while reading the youthful poet's
satires, if only to discover amid his rambling
references what kind of books he had read, and
what sort of people he was associating with, in
these ebullitional days of his career ; and it is
interesting to notice that his allusions to men and
manners are not all restricted to contemporary
affairs. Some of his remarks on works of philo-
sophy and divinity are reminiscent of his boyish
studies, when he was an unsophisticated schoolboy at
Colston's. His range of reading is seen to include
even Bishop Berkeley's theory of the non-existence
of matter, which is evidently glanced at in these
lines : —

All human things are centred in belief;
And (or the philosophic sages dream)
All our most true ideas only seem ;

' Richard Savage died in Bristol.

238 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

as well as Bishop Newton's then recent book
" On the Prophecies." These, and other now mostly
forgotten theological works, are used " to point a
moral and adorn" the verses of his erratic poem.

A portion of " Kew Gardens," which work, it must
be remembered, was chiefly, if not entirely, written in
Bristol, is interesting from its autobiographical con-
fessions ; as in these lines : —

Oh Prudence ! if by friends or counsel swayed,
I had thy saving institutes obeyed,
And, lost to every love but love of self,
A wretch like Harris, living but in pelf ;
Then happy in a coach or turtle-feast,
I might have been an alderman at least.
Safe are the arguments by which I'm taught
To curb the wild excursive flight of thought :
Let Harris wear his self-sufficient air,
Nor dare remark, " for Harris is a mayor " ; '
If Catcott's flimsy system can't be proved
Let it alone, for Catcott's much beloved,

If Camplin ungrammatically spoke,
'Tis dangerous on such men to break a joke ;
If you from satire could withhold a line,
At every public hall perhaps you'd dine.

But ah ! that satire is a dangerous thing.
And often wounds the writer with its sting ;
Your infant Muse should sport with other toys : —
Men will not bear the ridicule of boys.

Some of the aldermen (for some, indeed,
For want of education cannot read).

« Isaac Harris, Mayor of Bristol.

THE LAND OF PROMISE 239

Some of the aldermen may take offence
At your maintaining them devoid of sense ;
And if you touch their aldermanic pride,
Bid dark reflection tell how Savage died !

Then leave the wicked, barren way of rhyme,
Fly far from poverty — be wise in time —
Regard the office more, — Parnassus less —
Put your religion in a decent dress ;
Then may your interest in the town advance.
Above the reach of muses or romance.

Then chp Imagination's wing, be wise
And great in wealth, to real greatness rise.
Or if you must persist to sing and dream,
Let only panegyric be your theme.

Damned narrow notions ! notions which disgrace
The boasted reason of the human race :
Bristol may keep her prudent maxims still.
But know, my saving friends, I never will.
The composition of my soul is made
Too great for servile, avaricious trade ;
When raving in the lunacy of ink,
I catch the pen, and pubhsh what I think.

CHAPTER XI

STERN REALITY

REVERTING to the more personal narrative
of Chatterton's life, and putting on one side
the fancies of his poems for the plain prose of fact,
it will be seen that the poor boy's visions of the
fame and fortune awaiting him in the metropolis
were rapidly fading away. He did not, however,
let the dear ones at home know anything of his
troubles. The following letter, written to his sister
on the 19th of June, is full of forced gaiety — of
unnatural levity — without a spark of his usual
affectionate remembrance, and is evidently sent to
stop inquiries as to his prolonged silence : —

Dear Sister, — I have an horrid cold. The relation of the
manner of my catching it may give you more pleasure than the
circumstances itself. As I wrote very late Sunday night (or
rather very early Monday morning) I thought to have gone to
bed pretty soon last night : when, being half undressed, I heard
a very doleful voice, singing Miss Hill's favourite bedlamite song.
The hum-drum of the voice so struck me, that though I was
obliged to listen a long while before I could hear the words, I
found the similitude in the sound. After hearing her with
pleasure drawl for above half an hour, she jumped into a brisker
tune, and hobbled out the ever-famous song in which poor Jack
Fowler was to have been satirized. — " I put my hand into a bush ;

240

STERN REALITY 241

I prick'd my finger to the bone : I saw a ship sailing along : I
thought the sweetest flowers to find ; " and other pretty flowery
expressions, were twanged with no inharmonious bray. — I now
ran to the window, and threw up the sash, resolved to be
satisfied, whether or not it was the identical Miss Hill, in propria
persona, but, alas ! it was a person whose twang is very well
known, when she is awake, but who had drank so much royal
bob (the gingerbread-baker for that, you know,) that she was
now singing herself asleep. This somnifying liquor had made
her voice so like the sweet echo of Miss Hill's, that if I had not
considered that she could not see her way up to London, I
should absolutely have imagined it her's.

(This part of the letter, for some lines, is il-
legible.)

. . . the morning) from Marybone gardens ; I saw the fellow
in the cage at the watch-house, in the parish of St. Giles ; and
the nymph is an inhabitant of one of Cupid's inns of Court.
There was one similitude it would be injustice to let slip. A
drunken fishman, who sells souse mackarel, and other delicious
dainties, to the eternal detriment of all twopenny ordinaries ; as
his best commodity, his salmon goes off at three half pence the
piece ; this itinerant merchant, this moveable fish-stall, having
likewise had his dose of bob-royal, stood still for awhile, and
then joined chorus, in a tone which would have laid half a dozen
lawyers, pleading for their fees, fast asleep ; this naturally
reminded me of Mr. Haythorne's song of —

" Says Plato, who — oy — oy — oy should men be vain ? "

However, my entertainment, though sweet enough in itself,
has a dish of sour sauce served up in it ; for I have a most
horrible wheezing in the throat ; but I don't repent that I
have this cold ; for there are so many nostrums here, that 'tis
worth a man's while to get a distemper, he can be cured so
cheap.

16

242 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

June 29th, 1770.

My cold is over and gone. If the above did not recall to your
mind some scenes of laughter, you have lost your ideas of
risibility.

The conclusion or despatch of this communication
seems to have hung fire, for some reason, for several
days, as the postscript is dated ten days later than
the letter itself. The contents of the epistle are
scarcely in the style a boy would write to a sister,
and seem really to have been written by one who
did not wish to commit himself to anything about
his own circumstances.

It has been seen that in a recent letter home
Chatterton had asserted he had obtained an audience
of Beckford, the Lord Mayor, had been well received
and invited to repeat his visit, and that thereby hung
a secret. How much of this was fact and how much
fancy cannot now be ascertained, but certain it is that
he did address a letter, signed " Probus," to the Lord
Mayor and obtain its publication in the Political
Register for June, 1770, and, doubtless, obtained such
thanks from the city's chief magistrate as encouraged
him to hope for some more substantial acknow-
ledgment, despite his experience of " patriots " and
poverty. He wrote a second letter applauding his
lordship for his spirited address, or " Remonstrance,"
as it was styled, to the King, and the letter was in
type, ready to be published and earn its writer such
reward as Beckford might assign it, when, on the 21st
of June, to the dismay of his partisans, his Lordship's
sudden death was announced. For the time Chatter-

STERN REALITY 243

ton was thoroughly upset and, according to his
relative, Mrs. Ballance, was perfectly frantic ; quite out
of his mind, and declared he was ruined.

Enough is known of Chatterton to understand that
he would soon recover from this blow, but, according
to the unsupported and, therefore, more than doubtful
statement of Walpole, he had seen in the posses-
sion of an unnamed " private collector " " A Letter to
the Lord Mayor Beckford," signed "Probus," dated
May 26, 1770, on the back of which was endorsed,
supposedly by Chatterton : —

Accepted by Bingley, set for and thrown out of the North
Briton, June 21st, on account of the Lord Mayor's death.

Lost by his death on this

Gained in elegies
„ „ essays

essay

... ;^I II 6

2 2
330

Am glad he is dead by

3 13 6

That Chatterton did write one elegy on Beckford
is certain, because it was printed and published as a
separate quarto pamphlet by Kearsley, Fleet Street,
early in July, 1770, but that is the only one the
publication of which can be traced. That he received
anything like the sums named in Walpole's statement
is most improbable ; they are out of all proportion with
any amounts paid him during his career. Walpole
states the letter to which he refers is directed to
" Carey." T. Cary was the schoolfellow and corre-
spondent of Chatterton, and well known as the author

244 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

of some lines on the deceased poet, which may
account for the use of his name by Walpole.

There are two other letters imputed to Chatterton's
pen by Walpole, neither of which was written by him ;
one of them, an unpublished one, to Lord North, signed
" The Moderator " and described as " an encomium
on the administration for rejecting the Lord Mayor's
remonstrance," is said to be dated May 26th, the very
day on which Chatterton had written the letter for
the printers, in which Beckfor-d was thanked for the
" Remonstrance." No one but Walpole appears to
have seen this letter, and as its writing would have
imperilled any chance of reward the young politician
was striving for from the Lord Mayor, apart from any
reasons of honour or honesty, it seems very unlikely
that he would have written it. It was all very well
for the boy to write about a person being a " poor
author who cannot write on both sides," but that is a
very different thing from doing so himself, especially
when by so doing he would endanger all his prospects.
It is well known that Walpole had seen Chatterton's
published letters, and the onus of proving he had
written this one rests with the accuser. Another
letter Walpole said he had seen in manuscript,
addressed to Lord Mansfield, is equally apocryphal ;
knowing what is known of the man's forgeries and
falsehoods, its existence may be safely discredited.

About the end of June Chatterton did write a
letter to Thomas Cary, beginning —

Dear Arran ! now prepare to smile,
Be friendly, read, and laugh awhile ;

SOUTH TRANSEPT, REDCI.IFF CHURCH.
From J. Britton's " History of Redcliff Church."

STERN REALITY 245

which looks like a quotation from some one else, but
may be his own composition. Proceeding with his
epistle, he writes : —

But by the Lord, I have business of more importance than
poetry ! — As I wanted matter for a sheet in the Town and
Country Magazine, you will see this in print metamorphosed into
high life. You accuse me of partiaHty in my panegyric on Mr.
Allen. Pardon me, my dear friend, but I believe there are very
few in Bristol who know what music is. Broderip has no taste,
at least no real taste. Step into Redcliff Church, look at the
noble arches, observe the symmetry, the regularity of the
whole ; how amazing must that idea be which can comprehend
at once all that magnificence of architecture ; do not examine
one particular beauty or dwell upon it minutely; take the
astonishing whole into your empty pericranium, and then think
what the architect of that pile was in building Allen is in music.
Step aside a little and turn your attention to the ornaments of a
pillar of the chapel ; you see minute carvings of minute designs,
whose chief beauties are deformity or intricacy. Examine all
the laborious sculpture ; is there any part of it worth the trouble
it must have cost the artist, yet how eagerly do children and
fools gaze upon these littlenesses. If it is not too much trouble,
take a walk to the College gate, view the labyrinths of knots
which twist round that mutilated piece, trace the windings of
one of the pillars, and tell me if you don't think a great
genius lost in these minutias of ornaments. Broderip is a
complete copy of these ornamental carvers ; his genius runs
parallel with theirs and his music is always disgraced with
littlenesses, flowers and flourishes. What a clash of harmony
Allen dashes upon the soul. How prettily Broderip tickles
their fancy by winding the same dull tune over again. How
astonishingly great is Allen when playing an overture from
Handel. How absurdly ridiculous is Broderip when blunder-
ing in, and new modelhng the notes of that great genius ; how
emptily amusing when torturing and twisting airs which he has
stolen from Itahan operas. I am afraid, my dear friend, you do
not understand the merit of a full piece ; if you did you would
confess to me that Allen is the only organist you have in
Bristol — but of this enough. If you have not music enough to

246 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

enter into a dispute with me on the merits of Mr. Allen, engage
one who has, to throw down the gauntlet, and I shall be ever
ready to take it up.

A song of mine is a great favourite with the town on account
of the fulness of the music. It has much of Mr. Allen's manner
in the air. You will see that and twenty more in print after the
season is over. I yesterday heard several airs of my burletta
sung to the harpsichord, horns, flutes, bassoons, hautboys,
violins, &c. and will venture to pronounce, from the excellence
of the music, that it will take with the town. Observe I write
in all the magazines. I am surprised you took no notice of the
last London ; in that, and the magazine coming out to-morrow,
are the only two pieces I have the vanity to call poetry. Mind
the Political Register, I am very intimately acquainted with the
editor, who is also editor of another publication. You will
find not a little of mine in the London Museum and Town and
Country.

The printers of the daily publications are all frightened out
of their patriotism, and will take nothing unless 'tis moderate
or ministerial. I have not had five patriotic essays this fort-
night, all must be ministerial or entertaining.

I remain, yours, &c.,

T. Chatterton.

From the challenge Chatterton throws out with
respect to the merits of Allen in music, he would
appear as if he wished to pose as a connoisseur
in that art, but it is difficult to imagine when and
where he would have had opportunities to study it
technically. His expressions on the subject are
scarcely those of a person practically acquainted
with music and discussing it with any degree of
proficiency. It is a pity he does not name that song
of his which "is a great favourite with the town,"
as it cannot be identified now. The burletta is
" The Revenge," of which something will be said

STERN REALITY 247

shortly ; and " the only two pieces I have the
vanity to call poetry" are "The African Eclogues,"
" Narva and Mored," and " The Death of Nicou,"
which appeared in the London Magazine for May
and June respectively. In both of these two pieces
are some fine and even grand lines. The opening
of " Narva and Mored " is full of vigour and music,
and the whole poem is in some respects not an un-
worthy companion to the Rowley pieces, as the
following extracts show : —

Recite the loves of Narva and Mored,

The priest of Chalma's triple idol said.

High from the ground the youthful warriors sprung.

Loud on the concave shell the lances rung :

In all the mystic mazes of the dance,

The youths of Bonny's burning sands advance,

Whilst the soft virgin panting looks behind,

And rides upon the pinions of the wind ;

Ascends the mountain's brow, and measures round

The steepy cliffs of Chalma's sacred ground.

Chalma, the god whose noisy thunders fly

Through the dark covering of the midnight sky,

Whose arm directs the close embattled host,

And sinks the labouring vessels on the coast ;

The guardian god of Afric and the isles.
Where nature in her strongest vigour smiles ;
Where the blue blossom of the forky thorn
Bends with the nectar of the opening morn.

The flying terrors of the war advance.
And round the sacred oak repeat the dance.
Furious they twist around the gloomy trees,
Like leaves in autumn twirling with the breeze.
So, when the splendour of the dying day
Darts the red lustre of the watery way.

248 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Sudden beneath Toddida's whistling brink

The circling billows in wild eddies sink,

Whirl furious round and the loud bursting wave

Sinks down to Chalma's sacerdotal cave,

Explores the palaces on Zira's coast,

Where howls the war-song of the chieftain's ghost.

Where the pale children of the feeble sun,
In search of gold, through every climate run :
From burning heat to freezing torments go,
And live in all vicissitudes of woe.

Their lives were transient as the meadow-flower.
Ripened in ages, withered in an hour.

Narva was beauteous as the opening day

When on the spangling waves the sunbeams play.

Where the sweet Zinsa spreads its matted bed,
Lived the still sweeter flower, the young Mored.

She saw and loved ! and Narva too forgot

His sacred vestment and his mystic lot.

Long had the mutual sigh, the mutual tear.

Burst from the breast and scorned confinement there ;

Locked in each other's arms, from Hyga's cave
They plunged relentless to a watery grave ;
And falling, murmured to the powers above,
" Gods ! take our lives unless we live to love."

" The Death of Nicou," the second of these pieces,
is more powerful and grander than its predecessor.
The rhythm is richer and the versification more
musical than the compositions of any of Chatterton's
contemporaries, and since Milton's death no poet
had made such majestic sound nor penned such
mighty lines. Critics have carped at the ignorance

STERN REALITY 249

which placed the Tiber in Africa, but there is
nothing to show that the transference of the river's
name was not intentional on the poet's part. He
can scarcely have been unaware of the Roman
Tiber, and doubtless deemed himself at liberty to
call an African stream, especially when an imaginary
one, by any name he chose. The opening lines are
very fine : —

On Tiber's banks, Tiber, whose waters glide

In slow meanders down to Gaigra's side ;

And circling all the horrid mountain round,

Rushes impetuous to the deep profound ;

Rolls o'er the ragged rocks with hideous yell ;

Collects its waves beneath the earth's vast shell :

There for a while in loud confusion hurled,

It crumbles mountains down, and shakes the world,

Till borne upon the pinions of the air,

Through the rent earth the bursting waves appear ;

Fiercely propelled the whitened billows rise,

Break from the cavern and ascend the skies :

Then lost and conquered by superior force

Through hot Arabia holds its rapid course.

On Tiber's banks, where scarlet jasmines bloom,

And purple aloes shed a rich perfume ;

Where, when the sun is melting in his heat,

The reeking tigers find a cool retreat,

Bask in the sedges, lose the sultry beam,

And wanton with their shadows in the stream.

So when arrived at Gaigra's highest steep
We view the wide expansion of the deep,
See, in the gilding of her watery robe,
The quick declension of the circling globe,
From the blue sea a chain of mountains rise,
Blended at once with water and with skies.
Beyond our sight in vast extension curled,
The check of waves, the guardians of the world.

250 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

There are other original thoughts and daring
ideas such as —

When the full sails could not provoke the flood,
Till Nicou came and swelled the seas with blood ;

but the reader will prefer to discover them for
himself.

Stung beyond endurance by the flood of satirical
slander and political libels, the ministry suddenly
took stern measures to put a stop to incendiary
publications, by prosecuting and imprisoning their
editors and publishers, and Chatterton found his
leading occupation gone. In the absence of a
market for his political writings he had reverted to
his first love. Poesy, and, as has been seen, the pre-
ceding eclogues were the firstfruits of his purified
Muse. Then he tried his hand at all the
kinds of composition in vogue, producing with fatal
rapidity every variety of literary article he could
find, or thought he could find, an opening for. It
is a matter of much difficulty to discover amongst
the many ephemeral publications of that time which
are really Chatterton's contributions. Most of his
articles at this period were written with such rapidity,
merely to obtain the means of subsistence, that they
bear no impress of their author's style and are
devoid of his customary idiosyncrasies, so that identi-
fication, in the absence of his various pseudonyms, is
impossible. Some of the pieces assigned to him, as
produced during this struggle for existence, can be
shown not to be his, and many which he did, doubtless,
write at this period are still unrecognised, and are

STERN REALITY 251

waiting discovery and republication, if deemed worthy
of it, in some future and more comprehensive collec-
tion of his works than any yet published.

Long before Chatterton left Bristol, as early as
August, 1769, he appears to have written a dra-
matic piece he termed "Amphitryon." The title and a
portion of the plot were derived from a drama by
Plautus, probably through the medium of Dryden's
version, as it is scarcely likely he had seen or, at all
events, read the noted version of it by Moli^re. It was
intended to be a musical comedy, with the dramatic
personages divided into " Celestials," including
Jupiter, Mercury, Juno, and Nox, and " Mortals,"
consisting of Amphitryon, Sosia, Phocyon, Doris,
Alcmena, and Phygia. Much, if not the whole, of
this production appears to have been written, and a
quantity of the manuscript is preserved in the
British Museum ; some stray leaves of the work,
in the autograph of Chatterton, occasionally turn
up at auction marts, and other stray pieces have
doubtless perished. "Amphitryon" has never been
published, save such fragments of it as were revised
and incorporated in "The Revenge," a later work;
some lines in Dean Milles's edition of the Rowley
poems, and some short extracts in an article by the
present writer in Harpers Magazine. " Amphitryon "
contains many vigorous passages not unworthy of
preservation. The following scene in Olympus is
typical of the general style : —

Jupiter. Ho ! where's my valet, Hermes ? Can't you hear,

Sir?
Mercury. I came as quickly as I could, my dear Sir ;

252 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

But Madam Juno's keeping such a clatter, <

Old Neptune stayed me to inquire the matter.

Jupiter. In the folio ledger of Fate 'tis set down.

Mercury. It may be so, sir ; but the writing's your own
You took care that no woes should to you appertain,
Engrossed all the Pleasure — gave others the Pain.

yupiter. How, sirrah, what mean you ?

Mercury. Faith, 'tis a plain case
I'd have done the same thing had I been in your place.

Jupiter. Have I not got a wife !

Mercury. Ay, there's demonstration.
You've acted impartially in your vocation.

Many alterations and revisions were made in the
manuscript, probably by Barrett, but the work was
never published, for reasons which will be apparent
to those who have perused what remains of the
original draft. Doubtless, Chatterton took a copy
of this drama with him to London, and when
questioned as to his capability of writing words for
a musical composition, as referred to in his letter to
his mother of the 14th of May, naturally bethought
himself of " Amphitryon." Taking that work as his
model, and guided by his experience of London's
musical requirements, he set to work, and with his
usual rapidity completed a thorough revision of his
old production, and rechristened it " The Revenge : a
burletta." This poetic drama, as it now reads, is a
spirited, harmonious production, not unworthy of the
author of the Rowley poems.

"The Revenge" was approved by Dr. Samuel Arnold,
the well-known musical composer, and was evidently
considered suitable for production at the Marylebone
Gardens, as Mr. Luffman Atterbury, of that place

STERN REALITY 253

of amusement, purchased the copyright of it for five
guineas, as set forth in the agreement, in Chatterton's
handwriting, now in the British Museum : —

Received July 6th, 1770, of Mr. Luffman Atterbury, Five
Pounds, five shillings, being in full for all the manuscript
contained in this Book of which I am the Author : for
which consideration of Five Pounds five shilUngs I hereby give
up my sole right and property in and liberty of printing and
disposing of the same to the said Luffman Atterbury only and
in such a manner as he thinks proper. As witness my Hand
this 6th Day of July, 1770.

T. Chatterton.

Witness,

James AUen.

Dr. Maitland, the latest as well as a leading advo-
cate for the antiquity of the Rowley Manuscripts,
and, consequently, a depreciator of Chatterton's genius,
had so high an opinion of the cleverness and skilful
treatment of " The Revenge," that he refused to believe
that it was written by the Bristol boy. Of course,
he was unaware of the receipted agreement above
referred to, or that the original manuscript, in its
author's own calligraphy, was still in existence.

The history of the manuscript, like so many things
connected with its unfortunate writer's story, is
romantic in the extreme. Being unable to produce
the burletta at the Marylebone Gardens, Mr. Atter-
bury sold the manuscript of it to a Mr. King, who,
in conjunction with Mr. John Egerton, undertook the
responsibility of having the work printed and published.
After the contract had been executed and the work
was ready for publication, it was found that the

254 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

manuscript had disappeared. After it had been lost
for several years it was discovered quite unex-
pectedly. Mr. Upcott, of the London Institution, in-
terested in seeing a well-written manuscript amongst
the wastepaper in a cheesemonger's shop, secured
it, and was enabled to identifv it as Chatterton's
work. Subsequently the manuscript was sold for
one hundred and fifty pounds. Alas poor Chatterton !
That sum, so far in excess of all that he received
for the whole of his writings, would have been a
fortune for him, and might have preserved him for
greater things.

Misfortune even followed the book printed from the
poet's manuscript Owing to the editor's death the
publication of the work was postponed and for ever.
The book never was published, and although a few
copies escaped destruction, it is now a bibliographical
rarity. It is frequently stated that "The Revenge"
was performed at Mar)*lebone Gardens, but even this
statement is incorrect Dr. Arnold declared that,
owing to some unknown cause, the burletta never was
performed. It was neither published nor performed,
all statements to the contrary notwithstanding.

The manuscript of the poem in the British Museum
is doubly revised, both by the author and by some
unknown person, but the revisions and cancellations
are not numerous or important. Chatterton, to some
extent, inherited his father's musical taste, and in
"The Revenge," owing to his instinct for such
matters, was enabled to adapt his verse in the
happiest manner to the varied forms of recitative,
solo, duet, and chorus. The burletta is in two acts,

STERN REALITY 255

divided into seven and five scenes respectively. It
is mainly devoted to a matrimonial squabble between
Juno, typical of a shrewish wife, and Jupiter, a
faithless and somewhat henpecked husband ; but the
dramatic action is complicated by an under-plot and
by the mischievous tricks of Cupid.

The first scene presents Jupiter complaining of his
wife's bad temper. After a short description of her
behaviour the deity changes the air, concluding with
the threat : —

I fly her embraces,
To wenches more fair ;
And leave her wry faces,
Cold sighs and despair.

He then declares in recitative : —

And oh ! ye tedious minutes, steal away ;
Come evening, close the folding doors of day ;
Night, spread thy sable petticoat around,
And sow thy poppies on the slumbering ground;
Then raving into love, and drunk with charms,
I'll lose my Juno's tongue in Maia's arms.

Another air and recitative, and then Juno enters.
A quarrel ensues between the two deities in verse
more harmonious than the words it is told in.
Jupiter demands : —

What means this horrid rattle ?
And must that tongue of riot
Wage one eternal battle
With happiness and quiet ?

Juno continues the air : —

256 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

What means your saucy question ?

D'ye think I mind your bluster ? > '

Your godship's always best in

Words, thunder, noise and fluster.

The quarrel grows fiercer in alternative airs and
recitative between the husband and wife, until Juno,
perceiving that she has enraged her divine consort
too far, deems it better to moderate her tongue and
temporise for the present.

Jupiter, only too thankful for the respite, responds: —

Did the foolish passion tease ye,
Would you have a husband please ye,
Suppliant, pliant, amorous, easy ?
Never rate him like a fury :
By experience I'll assure ye,
Kindness, and not rage must cure ye.

In an aside Juno declares : —

He's in the right on't — hits it to a tittle —
But Juno must display her tongue a little.

The goddess becoming somewhat too responsive to
her husband's friendly advances, he exclaims : —

Egad, why this is more than I desire,
'Tis from the frying-pan to meet the fire,

and breaks into the air : —

What is love ? the wise despise it ;
'Tis a bubble blown for boys :
Gods and heroes should not prize it,
Jove aspires for greater joys.

Juno, taking up the air, praises love, but Jupiter,

STERN REALITY 267

having given his opinion, runs off without waiting for
another rejoinder.

In the fourth scene Cupid appears and informs the
Queen of Heaven of her husband's assignation with
Maia. Furious, Juno asks for particulars, and is told
by the God of Love : —

Gad — so I will, for faith, I cannot hold it.

His mighty godship in a fiery flurry,

Met me just now — confusion to his hurry !

I stopt his way, forsooth, and with a thwack,

He laid a thunderbolt across my back :

Bless me ! I feel it now — my short ribs ache yet —

I vowed revenge and now, by Styx, I'll take it.

Miss Maia in her chamber, after nine,

Receives the Thunderer in his robes divine.

I undermined it all ; see, here's the letter —

Could dukes spell worse, whose tutors spelt no better ?

You know false spelling now is much the fashion.

For his own revenge and Juno's, the mischief-
making little god arranges to get Maia out of the
way, Juno arranging to take her place and receive
Jupiter in her stead. This plot being contrived the
urchin sings : —

How often in the marriage state
The wise, the sensible, the great,

Find misery and woe ;
Though should we dive in nature's laws
To trace the first primaeval cause

The wretch is self-made so.

Bacchus, with a bowl, staggering and singing, now
enters : —

'Odsniggers, 'tother draught, 'tis devihsh heady,
Olympus turns about ; (staggers) steady, boys, steady !
17

258 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Sings.
If Jove should pretend that he governs the skies,
I swear by this nectar his Thundership lies ;
A slave to his bottle, he governs by wine.
And all must confess he's a servant of mine.

Air changes.
Rosy, sparkling, powerful wine.
All the joys of life are thine !
Search the drinking world around,
Bacchus everywhere sits crowned :
Whilst we lift the flowing bowl,
Unregarded thunders roll.

Air changes.
Since man, as says each bearded sage.
Is but a piece of clay,
Whose mystic moisture lost by age,
To dust it falls away ;
'Tis orthodox beyond a doubt.
That drought will only fret it ;
To make the brittle stuff hold out,
Is thus to drink and wet it.

Seeing Cupid, he invites him to drink, whereupon
the Httle deity exclaims : —

Hence, monster, hence ! I scorn thy flowing bowl,
It prostitutes the sense, degenerates the soul.

Bacchus rejoins : —

Gadso, methinks the youngster's woundy moral !
He plays with ethics like a bell and coral.

Air.

'Tis madness to think :

To judge ere you drink,
The bottle all wisdom contains :

Then let you and I

Now drink the bowl dry,
We both shall grow wise for our pains. .

STERN REALITY 259

Air.
Cupid. The charms of wine cannot compare
With the soft raptures of the fair :
Can drunken pleasures ever find
A place with love and womankind ?
Can the full bowl pretend to vie
With the soft language of the eye ?
Can the mad roar our passions move
Like gentle breathing sighs of love ?

After a rhyming duel between the two, Bacchus
flings the contents of his bowl in Cupid's face and
runs off. The insulted deity vows revenge and
declares that —

No more in the bowl

His brutahsed soul

Shall find a retreat from the lass.

The second act opens with Bacchus moralising.
Cupid has evidently been at mischief, and the
alcoholic god is seen suffering from the wound ; he
sings : —

Zounds, can't I guess the cause — hum ! could I say a
Short prayer or two, with pretty Mistress Maia ?
Ah ! there it is 1 why, I was woundy stupid —
Faith, this is all the handy-work of Cupid.

Air.
Fill the bowl and fill it high,
Vast as the extended sky 1
Since the dire disease is found.
Wine's a balm to cure the wound.
O the rapturous deUghts
When with women wine unites.

The next scene represents a dark room in which

260 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

Juno, in the place of Maia, is waiting for Jove, but
instead of whom Bacchus enters, singing amongst
other matters : —

The man who has no friend at court,
Must make the laws confine his sport ;
But he that has, by dint of flaws
May make his sport confine the laws.

Zounds ! I've a project, and a fine one too —
What will not passion and invention do ?
I'll imitate the voice and sound of Jove,
The girl's ambition won't withstand his love.

Bacchus accordingly imitates the Thunderer's voice
so well that Juno is deceived and assumes the place
of Maia.

Bacchus (aside).
Gods ! I have struck upon the very minute :
I shall be happy, or the devil's in it.
It seems some assignation was intended,
I'd pump it — but least said is soonest mended.

Believing it is her consort, Juno, in her character
of Maia, questions Bacchus as to his constancy, and
he, under the pretence of being Jove, answers : — ■

By the dirty waves of Styx, I swear it,

My love is yours — my wife shall never share it.

^uno (aside).
'Tis a sad compliment, but I must bear it.

In the following scene Jove, arriving, exclaims: —

I heard a voice within, or else I'm tipsy —
Maia, where are you ? Come, you little gipsy ;

STERN REALITY 261

and in the confusion following his demand calls forth
" the glories of the day " to illuminate the place.
When the three deities behold one another under
such embarrassing circumstances they start mutual
recriminations, but, through the intervention and
explanations of Cupid, a general reconciliation takes
place. All successfully give vent to their feelings in
song : first in solos and then in chorus. The air
sung by Cupid will suffice as a sample : —

For you, ye fair, whose heavenly charms
Make all my arrows useless arms ;
For you shall Handel's lofty flight,
Clash on the listening ear of night ;
And the soft, melting, sinking lay
In gentle accents die away :
And not a whisper shall appear
Which modesty would blush to hear.

Extracts from a drama are notoriously inadequate
to represent the work as a whole, and from such a
piece as a rhymed musical play are utterly powerless
to expound its characteristics. Such quotations as
have been given from " The Revenge," good, bad
or indifferent, are meant to give an idea of the plot,
but will not fail to convey to the reader's mind
astonishment at the versatility, dramatic skill, and
knowledge of the world displayed by the youthful
author. In some of the Rowley works, in " The
Revenge," and still more in the fragmentary "Woman
of Spirit," Chatterton displays an acquaintance with
and a shrewd discernment of character which, com-
bined with his quick appreciation of dramatic effect,
would have made him the most prominent dramatist

262 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

of his age had he lived long enough to have continued
his literary craft in that direction.

The five guineas he received for " The Revenge "
was evidently the largest sum of money Chatterton
had ever been paid for a single work. In the
triumph of being possessed of so much cash, and
forgetting or ignoring his own wants, he immediately
laid it out — or a very considerable portion of it — in
presents for his relatives in Bristol, sending the
souvenirs home with the accompanying letter, dated
July 8, 1770:—

Dear Mother, — I send you in the box, six cups and saucers
with two basons for my sister. — If a china teapot and creampot
is, in your opinion, necessary, I will send them ; but I am
informed they are unfashionable, and that the red china, which
you are provided with, is more in use. A cargo of patterns for
yourself, with a snuffbox, right French, and very curious in my
opinion.

Two Fans — the silver one is more grave than the other,
which would suit my sister best. — But that I leave to you both.

Some Bristol herb snuff in the box ; be careful how you open
it. (This I omit lest it injure the other matters.)

Some Bristol herb tobacco for my grandmother : some trifles
for Thorne. Be assured whenever I have the power, my wil
won't be wanting to testify that I remember you.

Your's,

July 8th, 1770. T. Chatterton.

N.B. — I shall forestall your intended journey and pop down
upon you at Christmas.

I could have wished you had sent my red pocket-book, as 'tis
very material.

I bought two very curious twisted pipes for my grandmother ;
but both breaking, I was afraid to buy others, lest they should
break in the box ; and being loose, injure the china. Have you
heard anything further of the Clearance ?

Direct for me at Mrs. Angel's, sack-maker. Brook Street,
Holborn.

STERN REALITY 263

This letter is the first intimation of Chatterton
having removed from the Walmsleys. He gave
the Walmsleys no explanation of the cause of his
removal, and was, it is seen, equally reticent with
his mother. It will be noticed that his mother had
proposed a visit to London, and that suggested visit
may have had something to do with his removal to
other lodgings. Doubtless, various reasons existed
to render him unwilling that his mother should come
to him in London. One was that she would then
discover the poverty of his surroundings and the
falsity of his pretended grandeur. The shabbiness
of his clothes, and his inability to take her to the
various places of amusement he speaks of being a
habitual frequenter of, would be additional reasons.
She would hear from Mrs. Ballance that he rarely
touched meat and only drank water, and seemed,
as she remarked, "to live on the air." And they
would let her know that when he sent the presents
home he was almost in want, and Mrs. Walmsley
might repeat to his mother what she had said to
him when he objected to having his room swept,
and told her that "poets hated brooms," about not
knowing "anything poet-folks were good for, but to
sit in a dirty cap and gown in a garret, and at last
to be starved." Alas, but too well did Mrs. Walmsley
foretell the poet's doom !

These and perhaps other things rendered it
inadvisable for his mother to visit him in London,
and made it necessary for him to at least delay, if
not to permanently prevent, her visit by threatening
to forestall it by his own journey to Bristol. On

264 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

the nth of July, by which time he had, it is to be
presumed, got settled in his new lodgings in Brook
Street, Chatterton wrote the following letter to his
sister, from which little is to be gathered save that
the promised silk gown cannot be purchased yet.
Doubtless the money received from the burletta was
nearly expended and, although he was willing to
make her wants his, the wherewithal was not
available. Even the money to purchase copies of
the publications in which his own writings were
appearing could not be spared, it would seem. The
letter is short: —

Dear Sister, — I have sent you some china and a fan. You
have your choice of two. I am surprised that you chose purple
and gold. I went into the shop to buy it : but it is the most
disagreeable colour I ever saw — dead, lifeless, and inelegant.
Purple and pink, or lemon and pink, are more genteel and lively.
Your answer in this affair will oblige me. Be assured that I
shall ever make your wants my wants ; and stretch to the utmost
to serve you. Remember me to Miss Sandford, Miss Rumsey,
Miss Singer, &c., &c., &c.

As to the songs, I have waited this week for them, and have
not had time to copy one perfectly : when the season's over,
you will have 'em all in print. I had pieces last month in the
following Magazines : Gospel Magazine, Town and Country, viz.:
" Maria Friendless," " False Step," " Hunter of Oddities," " To
Miss Bush," &c. ; Court and City, London, Political Register,
&c., &c. The Christian Magazines, as they are not to be had
perfect, are not worth buying.

I remain,

Your's,

T. Chatterton.

CHAPTER XII

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW

WHEN Chatterton moved from Shoreditch to
Holborn he found himself, for the first time
since his childhood, the occupant of a room to himself
where he could work or meditate alone and undis-
turbed. At Colston's Hospital he had to share his
bed with a schoolfellow ; at Lambert's he had to
endure the nocturnal society of the footboy, and at
Walmsley's he had to put up with the nightly com-
panionship of the plasterer's nephew. Now he could
labour day or night without interrupting or being
interrupted by any one. Alas, the time was almost
past for solitude being of any service to him. Had
he now had a trusted companion, a real friend, in
whom he could have confided, or from whom he
might have sought consolation, what a different end-
ing there might have been to his story !

The house to which he had moved was 39, Brook
Street, on the west side of the road,i in the occupation
of Mrs. Angel, a sack (dress) maker, from whom he
rented a room.

Possibly it was due to his solitude, or perhaps,
' The house was identified by the late Moy Thomas.

265

266 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

according to the more commonplace theory, that he
had now received his useful glossary from home, that
he had produced another, his last, Rowley poem.
An " Excelente Balade of Charitie," the swan death-
song of Rowley, is a beautiful poem, evidently typical
of its author's own melancholy story and replete with
personal allusion. Purporting to be "written by the
good priest, Thomas Rowley, 1464," the manuscript
was sent by its real writer, early in July, 1770, to the
Town and Country Magazine for publication, but
either because the poetry was above the understand-
ing of Hamilton, the editor, or because it was dis-
guised in the pseudo-mediaeval spelling of the
Redclifif documents, the ballad was rejected. It is
thoroughly typical of the believers in the Rowley
myth, who deemed it necessary for the support of
their theory that the acknowledged writings of
Chatterton should be decried, to applaud highly
everything appertaining to the supposed fifteenth-
century priest, and in this " Balade " they had good
ground to go upon. Accordingly, Dean Milles, in
firm belief of its antiquity, honestly describes this
illustration of the parable of the good Samaritan : —

The satire is keen, the moraUty excellent, and the description
worked up with wonderful art, propriety, and dignity of
expression. The ripeness of the Autumnal season, the heat of
the sun, the closeness of the atmosphere, the gradual approach
of the thunderstorm, with its violent effects, the momentary
intervening calm and return of the storm, cannot be described
in words more expressive of their effects.

Truly an appropriate appreciation of the boy poet's
artistic delineation of nature, as is confirmed by the

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 267

remarks of a far more competent critic, Mr. Theodore
Watts-Dunton, who with reference to this poem points
out that Chatterton " was half starving when he
wrote 'The Balade of Charitie,' which for reserved
power and artistic completeness no youthful poet has
ever approached."

Slightly revised from the original spelling and with
a few words, where necessary, translated by the aid
of Chatterton's glossary, the poem reads thus : —

I.

In Virgo, the sweltry sun 'gan sheene,'

And hot upon the meads did cast his ray ;

The apple reddened from it's paly green,

And the soft pear did bend the leafy spray ;

The pied chilandry = sang the livelong day ;

'Twas, now the pride, the manhood of the year,

And eke the ground was 'dight in its most deft aumere.3

n.

The sun was gleaming in the middle day,

Dead still the air and eke the welkin blue.

When from the sea arose in drear array,

A heap of clouds of sable, sullen hue.

The which fall fast unto the woodland drear,

Shrouding at once the sun's all radiant face :

And the black tempest swelled and gathered up apace.

III.
Beneath an holm, fast by a pathway side.
Which did unto Saint Godwin's convent lead,
A hapless pilgrim moaning did abide.
Poor in his sight, ungentle in his weed,'*
Long bretfuls of the miseries of need.
Where from the hailstone could the beggar fly ?
He had no shelter there, nor any convent nigh.

Shine. ' Goldfinch. 3 Apparel.

* Dress. s Filled with.

268 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

IV.

Look in his gloomy face, his spirit scan ;

How woe-begone, how withered, bloodless, dead !

Haste to thy church glebe-house,' accursed man !

Haste to thy kist,= thy only sleeping bed.

Cold as the clay which wilt grow on thy head,

Is Charity and Love among high elves.

For Knights and Barons live for pleasure and themselves.

V.

The gathered storm is ripe ; the big drops fall ;
The sunburnt meadows smoke and drink the rain ;
The coming ghastness do the cattle 'paU,
And the full flocks are driving o'er the plain ;
Dashed from the clouds the waters float again ;
The welkin opes ; the yellow lightning flies ;
And the hot fiery steam in the wide flaming dies.

VI.

List ! now the thunder's rattling, clanging sound

Moves slowly on, and then enstrengthened clangs.

Shakes the high spire, and lost, dispended, drowned,

Still on the frightened ear of terror hangs ;

The winds are up ; the lofty elm-tree swangs,

Again the levin, and the thunder pours.

And the full clouds are burst at once in stony showers.

VII.

Spurring his palfrey o'er the watery plain.
The Abbot of Saint Godwin's convent came ;
His chapournette 3 was drenched with the rain.
His painted girdle met with mickle shame ;
He backward told his beadroll at the same ; <
The storm increaseth and he drew aside,
'With the poor alms-craver, near the holm to bide.

' Grave. » Coffin.

3 Hat worn by lawyers and ecclesiastics.
* He told his beads backwards, a figurative expression to
signify cursing.

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 269

VIII.

His cloak was all of Lincoln cloth so fine,
With a gold button fastened near his chin ;
His autremote ■ was edged with golden twine,
And his peaked shoes a lover's might have been ;
Full well it showed he thoughten the cost no sin ;
The trammels of the palfrey pleased his sight,
For the horse-milhner his head with roses dight.

IX.

" An alms, Sir Priest ! " the drooping pilgrim said.
" O ! let me wait within your convent door,
Till the sun shineth high above our head,
And the loud tempest of the air is o'er ;
Helpless and old am I, alas I and poor ;
No house, no friends, no money in my pouch.
All that I call my own is this my silver crouch." ^

X.

"Varlet," replied the Abbot, "cease your din,

This is no season alms and prayers to give ;

My porter never lets a vagrant in ;

None touch my ring who not in honour live."

And now the sun with the black clouds did strive

And shooting on the ground his shining ray,

The Abbot spurred his steed and swiftly rode away.

XI.

Once more the sky was black, the thunder roUed ;

Fast running o'er the plain a priest was seen ;

Not dressed full proud, nor buttoned up in gold ;

His cope and jape 3 were gray and yet were clean ;

A Limitour* he was of order seen ;

And from the pathway side then turned he,

Where the poor pilgrim lay beneath the holmen tree.

' Cowl. " Crucifix.

3 Surplice. * Mendicant friar.

270 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

XII.

"An alms, Sir Priest," the drooping pilgrim said, '

" For sweet St. Mary and your order's sake."

The Limitour then loosened his pouch thread,

And did thereout a groat of silver take ;

The needy pilgrim did for halline' shake.

" Here, take this silver, it may ease thy care ;

We are God's stewards all, nought of our own we bear.

XIII.

" But ah 1 unhappy pilgrim, learn of me.

Scarce any give a rent roll to their Lord ;

Here, take my semecope," thou art bare, I see ;

'Tis thine ; the Saints will give me my reward."

He left the pilgrim, and his way aborde.'

Virgin and holy Saints who sit in gloure,*

O give the mighty will, or give the good man power.

Alas, poor Chatterton ! " No friend, nor money
in his pouch," and knowing by sad experience that
" barons live for pleasure and themselves," what
could he do .'' Hope to the end, although that end
be disappointment and despair? On July 20th
he wrote again to his sister, who would appear to
have decided upon the colour of her dress, but
who must now wait until that sanguine brother of
hers has finished an oratorio : —

I am now about an Oratorio, which, when finished, will
purchase you a gown. You may be certain of seeing me
before the ist January, 1771. The Clearance is immaterial.
My mother may expect more patterns. Almost all the next
Town and Country Magazine is mine. I have an universal
acquaintance : my company is courted everywhere ; and, could

' Joy. • Short under-cloak.

3 Went on. ■» Glory.

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 271

I humble myself to go into a compter, could have had twenty
places before now : — but I must be among the great ; state
matters suit me better than commercial. The ladies are not
out of my acquaintance. I have a deal of business now, and
must, therefore, bid you adieu. You will have a longer letter
from me soon — and more to the purpose.

Yours,

T. C.

The longer letter, more to the purpose, never
arrived. It is stated, upon testimony too doubtful
to be trusted, that his mother did receive another
letter from Chatterton, but, if it be true, its con-
tents have never been divulged to the world. As
far as is known, the adieu in the above letter
was really his farewell to the dear ones at home.
A fan, or a piece of china, could be sent as a
remembrance, when a little cash was available, but
the long-promised silk dress was ever beyond the
poor boy's means.

During his last three months in London Chat-
terton's literary labours were enormous. Some of
his manuscripts may have been brought up from
Bristol by him in April ; some were, it is known ;
but most of his metropolitan material must, from
the very nature of its import, have been produced in
the capital.

Of course, many of the articles ascribed to him
in both prose and verse are not by Chatterton,
as can be conclusively proved. Mr. Edward Bell,
in his " Memoir of Chatterton," alluding to the
immense quantity of work of all kinds contributed
to the magazines by the poet, during the period
referred to, remarks, "It is true that some of

272 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

these papers were not original," adding, " It was a
too common practice in the last [the eighteenth] cen-
tury for one writer to make unsparing use of the
labours of another," as if the practice were not as
common in the nineteenth century, and as it is
in the twentieth, as it was in the eighteenth or any
other century.

Mr. Bell, despite his charge against Chatterton
of being "not more scrupulous than others," con-
cludes that of the many papers ascribed to the
lad, "nearly all were undoubtedly original," besides
which it may be pointed out a considerable
number, published or not, which have never been
identified, must have been written by him. Appa-
rently, Hamilton, of the Town and Country
Magazine had a large number of Chatterton's
contributions, which he held in reserve and did
not publish until after the death of their author,
some as late as November, 1775, and it is too
likely that none of them were paid for. After
the lad's death any available pieces could be used
without fear of detection, even if they did not form
part of the ten pounds seventeen shillings and six-
pence shown by the entries in his pocket-book to
have been unpaid, and owing to him by publishers.

Day after day he must have wandered with his
manuscripts from publisher to publisher, and editor to
editor, sometimes getting permission to leave them
for perusal, but never able to get any money.
Although he could write home and promise his
relatives gifts, discuss by letter with his sister what
colours in silk would best suit her in the gown which

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 273

was never to arrive, and even dispute with a Bristol
correspondent about Church and State, and quote
Rowley on architectural terms, for all that he must
have felt that he was nearing the Valley of the
Shadow.

Time was passing rapidly and, apparently, no
money was to be had : his hopeful letters home had
ceased to arrive. Doubtless, everything which could
have been transmuted into cash had disappeared ;
whilst his strong, unconquerable pride forbade him
applying to any friends in London or Bristol for help.
So that, haggard, distressed, and looking quite old, it
is possible that he may have appeared as careworn
and elderly for his young years as represented in the
picture of him in a garret, with its miserable sur-
roundings, printed in blue ink on a piece of linen, and
said to be reproduced from a sketch made of him by
a friend in the last days of his life. The short story
of his London career, already near its climax, cannot
be summed up better than by the feeling words of
William Howitt : —

From the moment that he set foot in London, what is there
in all biography so heart-breaking to contemplate ? With a
few borrowed guineas he sets out. Arrived in this great ocean
of human life, where one living wave rushes past another as
unrecognisant as the waves of the ordinary sea, his heart over-
flowing with domestic affections, he expends the few borrowed
guineas in presents to his mother and sister, and sends them
with flaming accounts of his prospect of honours for himself
and of wealth for them. . . .

But what was the stern reality ? Amid all the flush of
imaginary honours and success, or what he would have his
family to think such, to tranquillise their minds, he was, in truth,

18

274 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

almost from the first, in a state of starvation. Of friends he
does not appear to have had one in this huge human wilderness.
Besides the booksellers for whom he did slave-work, not a
single influential mortal seems to have put out a finger of fellow-
ship towards him. So far as the men of literary fame were con-
cerned, it was one vfide, dead, and desert silence. Starvation
pursued him and stared him every day more fearfully in the
face. He was with all his glorious talents and his indomitable
pride, utterly alone in the world . . . the noblest genius
living was stalking on sternly through the streets of London to
famine and despair.

Probably Chatterton's most constant correspondent
at Bristol, excluding his relatives, was George Catcott.
The correspondence was, evidently, voluminous, but
Catcott, who treasured up so carefully every scrap of
the Rowley MSS. he could obtain possession of, says
that he destroyed all the letters he received from his
young correspondent in London, excepting the last
one, which was accidentally preserved. It was an
answer to one from Catcott, dated Bristol, August 8,
1770, addressed to Chatterton in these terms : —

Sir, — I have yours of the loth ult. now before me, which
should have been answered sooner cou'd I possibly have found
a Leisure Hour to do it in.

After discussing the question of a " Gothic Dome,"
much commended by Chatterton, Catcott continues : —

You will undoubtedly be not a little pleased when I inform
you Mr. Barratt [sic] has been lucky enough to rescue from
oblivion a large Box full of valuable Manuscripts relating to
Bristol which have been in a gentleman's Family, a few Miles
from this City, whose Father intended publishing them ever
since the year 1708. Mr; Barratt wou'd be glad to hear from
you and desires to be informed what way you are in. I am

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 275

told you're employ'd sometimes as a political, and at other times
as a poetical writer, at a salary of 2 guineas a week .

Since you are got under the Tuition of an Angel shou'd be
glad to be informed whether he belongs to the Prince of
Darkness, or the Regions of Light. I sincerely hope the
latter. . . .

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

George Catcott.

To this epistle Chatterton sent an answer dated
August 12, 1770, and as it is probably the last letter
the poet ever wrote, its contents have been scrutinised
with the deepest interest and keenness.

It will be plainly seen that the letter is filled mainly
with nonsensical aimless gossip, including a few lines
of unpublished unreliant boyish braggadocio respect-
ing certain amorous exploits of the writer, which those
people familiar with his strong imagination will give
no more credence to than they do to any other of his
mythical confessions. The last paragraph of the
letter really shows why the bestraught poet nerved
himself, even at that eleventh hour, to write to Catcott.
It was with the forlorn hope that a friendly word from
him might help to induce Barrett to send him the
medical certificate he requires. "I hope he will" is
the vain, despairing cry of the broken-hearted lad : —

Sir, — A correspondent from Bristol had raised my admiration
to the highest pitch by informing me that an appearance of
spirit and generosity had crept into the niches of avarice and
meanness : — that the murderer of Newton ■ (Ferguson) had met
with every encouragement that ignorance could bestow ; that an
episcopal palace was to be erected for the enemy of the Whore

' Bishop Newton,

276 THE TRUE CHATTEUTON

of Babylon, and the present turned into a stable for his ten-
headed beast — that a spire was to be patched to St. Mary
Redchffe, and the streets kept cleaner, with many other impos-
sibilities : but when Mr. Catcott (the Champion of Bristol) doubts
it, it may be doubted. Your description of the intended
steeple struck me. I have seen it, but not as the inventions of
Mr. . All that he can boast is Gothicising it. Give your-
self the trouble to send to Weobley's, Holborn, for a View of the
Church of St. Mary de la Annunciation, at Madrid, and you will
see a spire almost the parallel of what you describe . — The con-
duct of is no more than what I expected : I had received

information that he was absolutely engaged in the defence of
the Ministry, and had a pamphlet on the stocks, which was to
have been paid with a translation.' In consequence of this
information, I inserted the foUow^ing paragraph in one of my
exhibitions : —

" Revelation Unravelled, by .

" The Ministry are indefatigable in establishing themselves :
they spare no expense, so long as the expense does not lie upon
them. This piece represents the tools of Administration offering
the Doctor a pension, or translation, to new-model his Treatise
on the Revelations, and to prove Wilkes to be an Atheist."

The editor of Baddeley's Bath yournal has done me the
honour to murder most of my hieroglyphics, that they may be
abbreviated for his paper. Whatever may be the political
sentiments of your inferior clergy, their superiors are all
flamingly Ministerial. Should your scheme for a single row of
houses in Bridge Street take place, conscience must tell you,
that Bristol will owe even that beauty to avarice ; since the
absolute impossibility of finding tenants for a double row is the
only occasion of your having but one. The Gothic dome I
mentioned was not designed by Hogarth. I have no great
opinion of him out of his ludicrous walk — there he was un-
doubtedly inimitable. It was designed by the great Cipriani.
The following description may give you a faint idea of it.
From an hexagonal spiral tower (such I believe Redchffe is) rose

' That is to say, an ecclesiastical preferment.

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 277

a similar palisado of Gothic pillars, three in a cluster on every
angle, but single and at equal distance in angular spaces. The
pillars were trifoliated (as Rowlie terms it), and supported by a
majestic oval dome, not absolutely circular, (that would not be
Gothic) but terminating in a point, surmounted with a cross,
and on the top of the cross a globe. The two last ornaments
may perhaps throw you into a fit of religious reflection, and give
rise to many pious reflections. Heaven send you the comforts
of Christianity ! I request them not, for I am no Christian. —
Angels are, according to the orthodox doctrine, creatures of the
epicene gender, like the Temple beaux. . . .

I intend going abroad as a surgeon. Mr. Barrett has it in
his power to assist me greatly, by his giving me a physical
character. I hope he will. I trouble you with a copy of an
Essay I intend publishing.
I remain.

Your much obliged humble Servant,

Thomas Chatterton.

Direct to me at Mrs. Angel's, Sack-maker, Brook Street,
Holborn.

The Essay Chatterton speaks of is, apparently, one
entitled "The Gallery and School of Nature," the
manuscript of which is in the Bristol Museum. As
far as is known, it has never been published, and
although not quite complete, apparently wanting
another page or so, what there is of it does not seem
undeserving of publication. It is in the form of a
vision, and fills four closely written foolscap pages,
beginning "A few Nights ago as I was sitting in my
closet and had not immediately fixed on any book to
read, it came into my mind that I was to prepare a
discourse for your Entertainment this Night."

When Chatterton found things going from bad to
worse he formed the desperate resolution, as a last
chance, of trying to go to Africa on board a sailing

278 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

vessel as surgeon's mate. Little medical knowledge
was asked for in those days for such miserable
employment, and the only qualification demanded was
the possession of a surgeon's certificate, and this was
what he had written to Barrett to give him. His
surgical and medical skill must have been slight, but
such as it was he prided himself upon it, as pieces of
his manuscript in the British Museum testify.

When writing home to his sister on May 30th it
will be seen that he had intimated that a sea career
was open to him, saying that he " might have a
recommendation to Sir George Colebrooke, an East
India Director, as qualified for an office no ways
despicable," adding, however, as if the idea were only
a passing allusion, " but I shall not take a step to the
sea whilst I can continue on land." That the idea
was not a mere transient whim verses to Miss Bush,
of Bristol, published in the Town and Country
Magazine as early as June of that year, indicate,
such as —

Before I seek the dreary shore
Where Gambia's rapid billows roar.

As he had obtained nearly all the medical know-
ledge he had from or through Barrett, he turned
naturally to him for the necessary document, but the
surgeon, under some pretence, appears to have re-
frained from furnishing him with the certificate.
Nothing further could be done. In the account of
Chatterton which Barrett gives in his " History of
Bristol " he does not make any reference to the subject
of the proposed African engagement ; and, in fact, his

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 279

allusions to the personal story of his former proVeg^,
helper, and pupil are of the most meagre description.
Whatever his knowledge of the youth, he carefully
refrains from using it, or from giving utterance to a
single sympathetic sentence.

A few doors from the house where Chatterton
lodged in Brook Street was the shop of Mr. Cross, an
apothecary. The poet made the acquaintance of this
man, after which, as Mr. Cross informed Thomas
Warton, author of the " History of English Poetry,"
scarcely a morning or evening passed but the lad
would step into the shop for a chat. His conversa-
tion, said the apothecary, "a little infidelity excepted,
was most captivating." Mr. Cross stated further that,
despite the most pressing and repeated importunities,
he could never persuade Chatterton to accept an
invitation to dine or sup with him. Nevertheless,
one evening the young poet, probably driven by
hunger, was prevailed upon to lay aside his pride and
was tempted to partake of the contents of a barrel of
oysters, which it was observed he ate of most vora-
ciously.

The month of August was fatal to all Chatterton's
hopes. The new number of Town and Country,
which was to be nearly filled with his writings, was
made up of the contributions of other people, and his
articles were either rejected or their production post-
poned. Doubtless the editors of other publications
treated him and his writings in a similar fashion.
His money was evidently at an end, and absolute
starvation stared him in the face. Sums due to him
for accepted, if not for published, papers could not be

280 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

obtained. His appeal to Barrett, his former friend,
associate, and confederate, was in vain. There was
not a ray of hope anywhere. How did he exist ?
What were his latest doings ? Who saw him, spoke
to him, and knew how he comported himself?

The latest authentic information about the unfor-
tunate lad is that gathered by Croft, who, in pursuing
his inquiries some years after Chatterton's death, was
informed by Mrs. Wolfe, who lived within a few doors
of the house in which the poet had lodged, that she
remembered him well. She spoke of his proud and
haughty spirit, and said that he appeared to both her
and Mrs. Angel, with whom she had been well
acquainted, as if he had been born for something
great. After the lad's death Mrs. Angel, who had
moved away and could not be found by Croft when
he inquired for her, told her neighbour, Mrs. Wolfe,
that as she knew Chatterton had not eaten anything
for two or three days, she begged him, on the 24th of
August, to have some dinner with her. He was
offended at her request, which seemed to hint to him
that he was in want, and assured her he was not
hungry.

When Chatterton had written to Barrett in the
previous April he had averred it was pride which
urged him to die rather than live as a servant, a slave,
" to have no will of his own and not allowed to enter-
tain any personal sentiments." " I will endeavour to
learn humility, but it cannot be here," was then his
assertion. " What it will cost me on the trial
Heaven knows ! " Pride still held sway over him.
The trial was over and he had failed, and now the

THE HOUSE WHERE CHATTERTON IHED, KROOK bTKEET, HOLBORN-
From an old print.

To face p. 25i,

IX THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 281

penalty had to be paid. It is idle to moralise over
his condition or to gauge the feelings of the unfor-
tunate lad. Everything had gone wrong with him,
and he could not face the world any longer. Heart-
broken and starving, the poor boy deemed his only
escape was by death, and he killed himself.

How the end was brought about is still one of the
problems of Chatterton's story. Barrett, who could
only repeat what he had been told, says he took "a
large dose of opium, some of which was picked out
between his teeth after death. He was found the
next morning a most horrid spectacle, with limbs and
features distorted, as after convulsions." Croft, who
sought his information from the coroner, who had,
however, taken no minutes of the affair and was
unable to recall any of the circumstances to his
memory, says that according to the depositions at
the inquest Chatterton had swallowed arsenic in
water on the 20th of August and died thereof the
following day. Some of the boy's contemporaries
assert that he died of starvation. Had poison finished
what hunger had begun ?

Some delay appears to have taken place in regard
to the interment, which may have been deferred to
allow the relatives an opportunity of claiming the
body. No one applied, and the burial, according to
the Register, took place on the 28th of August.
The entry therein is, " William Chatterton, Brook
Street," against which was subsequently added by
"J. Mills" the words, "the Poet." It will be seen
that the Christian name of the deceased was wrongly
given, indicating that no one personally connected

282 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

with the lad had had anything to do with the
burial.

Although Croft, the real authority for the suicide
story, did not make his inquiries on the spot until
several years after the poet's death, and when the
man had developed a mania for ascribing the deaths
of noted and notorious persons to self-murder, it is
but too probable that the unfortunate lad perished
by his own act. Croft very illogically reasons that
Chatterton could not have been driven to death by
absolute want, because he never indulged in meat and
drank nothing but water ; but if the lad had no money
for bread and lodging his indigence was as positive
as if he required rich meats and strong drinks.
Although the coroner had no minutes or personal
recollection of the inquest held in August, he had his
official memorandum of the depositions, giving the
names of the witnesses and so forth. According to
the account furnished by Croft, from the information
given by the memorandum, the witnesses who ap-
peared before the coroner, and gave evidence, were
Frederick Angell, Mary Foster, and William Hamsley,
none of whom the narrator was able to find out.
Hamsley is a most unusual name, and it is more than
probable it is a mistake for Walmsley, the plasterer,
or one of his family, called for purposes of identifica-
tion.

When Chatterton's room was broken open owing
to his non-appearance, it was found to be covered
with little scraps of paper, just as his room at his
Shoreditch lodging had been. What those disjointed
scraps were was not discovered nor, in all probability,

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 283

did any one seek to learn. His glossary, which his
sister must have sent him, as he ceased to ask for it
in his later letters, and, perhaps, some unpublished
Rowley pieces, had doubtless been destroyed in those
last hours of anguish. Whilst living in Shoreditch he
often said that he had valuable writings by him which
would produce a great deal of money if they were
printed, and when it was remarked that they did not
take up much room, he persisted still in his assertion.
" When he talked of writing something which should
procure him money to purchase clothing, or to paper
the room in which he lodged, or to send some more
presents to his relatives in Bristol," and was asked
why he did not do all this by means of the " valuable
writings" he possessed, Croft was told he would answer
they were not written for such a purpose, and "if
the world did not behave well, it should never see a
line of them." And these probably were the valuable
writings, the fragments of which littered the room of
death ; trodden into dirt and destruction by those
who came to carry out to the noteless grave all that
remained of the once throbbing heart, proud spirit
and aspiring brain. All now " cold as the clay which
will grow on thy head."

According to the information given to Croft,
Chatterton's body was placed in a shell, a pauper's
coffin, and interred in the burying-ground of Shoe
Lane Workhouse. There is no evidence to show
whether the coroner's jury brought in a verdict of
insanity with regard to the poet's death, or whether
his distorted remains were treated as foreboded in his
" Will " of the previous April. Was their fate that

284 THE TRUE CHATTERTOX

assigfned to suicides ? There is nothing to show
whether they did. or did not, "drag his body to the
triple way,'' and wreak the law's last vengeance on his
cold remains, as he had suggested they might do. and
as was customar}- in the case of ■" self-murder " ; but,
if the information recorded by Croft be trustworthy,
these indignities were not inliicted.

Occasional references have been made in the course
of this narrative to "friends " and relatives of Chatter-
ton, who knew him, or met him in London, but who
they were or what became of them at the time of his
death is unknown. There was Mrs. Ballance and an
uncle. Phillips, said to be a carpenter, and in his first
letter home Chatterton spoke of having seen aunts
and cousins, but nothing more is heard of them.
Some one acquainted with the family at Bristol must
have appeared at or soon after the inquest and
obtained possession of some of his effects, as the
pocket-book containing his accounts and George
Catcott's last letter to him found their way back to
Bristol. And some one g^ve the information to
Barrett as to the cause of his death and the appear-
ance of his body when found. Although he destroyed
some documents previous to his fatal act. it is ver)'
probable that manuscripts and correspondence were
left in his trunk, and it is just possible that besides
the various works which have been already referred
to, as known to have existed, others which the lad
had produced may turn up some day. There was the
plav of " The Apostate." another called " The Manks-
man," the unfinished drama oi " The Dowager." the
words of the oratorio he was writing for Dr. Samuel

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW 285

Arnold, of which a portion at least seems to have
been executed, besides other pieces he is known to
have been engaged upon.

For years it was believed that Chatterton's body-
was buried in a pauper's grave — in " the Pit," as it
was called, of Shoe Lane Workhouse ; and many
pilgrims there had the supposed spot pointed out to
them, until ultimately, the ground being required for
other purposes, the bones of the dead were disinterred
and carried away. Upwards of half a century after
the poet's death a strange story was promulgated to
the effect that his corpse had not been buried in
London, but that soon after the inquest it had been
enclosed in a box, taken to Bristol, and been interred
in the churchyard of St. Mary Redcliff. (See
Appendix D, page 308.)

THE SURVIVORS

THOSE who have followed Chatterton's sad stor}'
to the end cannot but feel desirous of learning
what befell his dear ones at home, after his death.
Their horror and anguish, when the news of his dread-
ful fate reached them, doubtless several days after his
death, may be comprehended, but they suffered in
silence. It is stated that Mrs. Chatterton, when she
heard of her son's death, was seized with a nervous
illness, which never left her during the remainder of
her life. Of the old grandmother's fate nothing
seems to have been made public.

When the stor}' of Chatterton's decease had be-
come common property, various persons published
his works and appropriated the proceeds which accrued
from them, without any regard to the rights of his
legal, natural heirs. Some persons of literar)- and
social position visited the place of his birth, and
even interviewed his mother and sister, and from
interest and curiosity questioned them about the
dead bov. Writers having books or essavs to
publish for or against the Rowley myth, or the
creator of it, cross-examined the two poor women so
severely about the "forged" documents or the
" purloined " parchments, that they were quite be-

3S6

SIR HERBERT CROFT, liART.
Finm an cni;ravini^ after portrait by Drummond.

THE SURVIVORS 287

side themselves with the worry of it, and Croft, who
really treated them more cruelly than did any one
else, states " a gentleman who saw these two women
last year declares that he will not be sure they might
not easily have been made to believe that injured
Justice demanded their lives at Tyburn, for being
the mother and sister of him who was suspected to
have /or£^ed the Poems of Rowley. Such terror had
the humanity of certain curious inquirers impressed
upon their minds, by worrying them to declare the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
about the forgery."

The actions of none of these self-seeking visitors
could have caused the poor women such anguish as
did that of the Rev. Sir Herbert Croft himself.
According to Southey's narrative, Croft called upon
them as a stranger, going to the house of Mrs.
Newton, then a widow, her husband, Thomas Newton,
to whom she was married on November 13, 1777,
having died soon after their marriage, leaving her
with one child, a little girl. Croft persuaded her to
lend him the letters she had received from her
brother whilst in London, pretending that it would
be too painful for him to read them in her presence.
She trusted the precious relics to him, he presenting
her with a guinea, and promising to return the letters
within an hour.

He then called on Mrs. Chatterton and in a similar
way succeeded in obtaining her son's letters from her,
leaving her half a guinea, as a present. The letters
were not returned as promised. The poor woman's
distress may be imagined. Croft was appealed to,

288 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

and, after some time, wrote, " all the little treasures
shall be returned," and, eventually, it is thought,
he did return the letters, all save the last, written
home by the poet. This he kept, saying Mrs.
Chatterton had "suffered it to be retained as a
curiosity." He desired Mrs. Newton to write him a
letter, giving him every circumstance, however trifling,
about her brother she could remember. The poor
simple-hearted woman, grateful for his remarks about
her deceased brother, complied with his request, and
on the 22nd of September, 1778, sent him a lengthy
account of the particulars of her " dear deceased
brother's " life, as far as her memory would permit.
She was reluctant to engage in the saddening task,
which naturally was painful to her, but eventually
unbosomed herself unsuspectingly of all the remi-
niscences she could compile of their lost darling.

Imagine the horror of the two friendless women
when, the following year, they learnt that the soft-
spoken clerical gentleman, who had sympathised so
strongly with them in their desolation, had printed
and published all the poor boy's private communi-
cations home to his dear ones, as well as the sister's
ingenuous confessions, in a book containing matter
of a disgusting and degrading character. Mrs.
Chatterton wrote and upbraided him for his duplicity,
and in reply he wrote and forwarded her and her
daughter ten pounds between them, as a solatium for
their wounded feelings. Mrs. Newton wrote to him
again and again, but, according to Southey, was
unable to get any further satisfaction, and, indeed,
Croft appeared to imagine that he had acted hand-

THE SURVIVORS 289

somely towards the insulted and injured victims of
his cruelty.

Other persons treated the unfortunate women
little better. George Catcott, after obtaining every
scrap of the Rowley productions he could possibly
get hold of, and selling them for a large sum of
money, was induced to give their author's mother
five guineas, whilst the only return the family ever
received from Barrett, whose heavily subscribed for
"History of Bristol" was so largely composed of
Chatterton's contributions, was, according to Southey,
" surgical assistance gratuitously afforded to the sister,
Mrs. Newton, once in a complaint of the breast, and
once in curing a whitlow on her finger."

Then the church authorities of St. Mary Redcliff
swooped down upon Mrs. Chatterton, as has already
been explained, demanding all the manuscripts they
had ignored for upwards of forty years, and terrified
the poor woman into parting with all the copybooks
and papers belonging to her dead son, over which
she is said to have frequently wept tears of bitterness.
For years her life must have been one prolonged
tragedy, and in her case the mother had to suffer for
the fault of the child. In the spring of 1 771, as Dr.
Stokes has discovered, one little ray of sunshine
brightened her sad lot. Mr. Love, who was then
master of the Pile Street School, not being a married
man, was permitted by the school authorities " to
reside in any part of St. Mary Redcliff parish as he
shall think fit," and the schoolhouse " was lett by the
Treasurer for the use of the charity." Mrs. Chatterton,
thereupon, was permitted to return to her old home, to

19

290 THE TRUE CHATTERTON

the house where the few years of her brief married Hfe
had been spent and where her dead son had been born.
For seven years the struggHng widow managed to
earn a scanty Hvelihood in the old home, when further
misfortune befell her. In March, 1778, records Dr.
Stokes, Mr. Love died and was succeeded in the
schoolmastership by Nathaniel Cope, who, being mar-
ried, required the schoolhouse. Poor Mrs. Chatterton
was not only ejected from her home, but deprived of
the various little occupations which she carried on
there, such as "the making of the bands " or neckties
for the scholars, which perquisite was now Mrs.
Cope's, the new master's wife.

After this fresh blow the poor widow fell into dire
distress, and appeals were made through the Press on
her behalf, but the amounts collected for her never
seemed important. The Gentleman s Magazine for
January, 1792, drew attention to her very distressed
circumstances, but by the time the notice appeared
Mrs. Chatterton was dead. She died on the ist of
January, 1792, from the effects of a cancer, from which
she had been suffering for some years.

Mrs. Newton, who appears to have lived with her
mother for some time previous to her death, supported
herself by teaching children to read. The income
was precarious and her sight was beginning to fail,
when Southey and Joseph Cottle bestirred themselves
on her behalf They projected an edition of Chatter-
ton's Works for her benefit — works which, as Southey
said, "had hitherto been published only for the
emolument of strangers, who procured them by gift
or purchase from the author himself, or pilfered

THE SURVIVORS 291

them from his family." Something under two
hundred pounds was obtained for Mrs. Newton,
which soothed the last days of her Hfe, when, as she
said, without such aid she should have wanted for
bread. She died in March, 1 804, leaving one daughter,
Mary Ann Newton. This Miss Newton eventually
received a further sum of about six hundred pounds as
the proceeds of the sale of the poet's works, but she
did not live long to enjoy it, dying in 1807, at the age
of twenty-four. She left one hundred pounds to a
young man she was to have married, and the re-
mainder of the money went to her father's relatives
the Newtons.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

" MRS. EDKINS'S ACCOUNT "

IN 1837, John Dix, otherwise Ross, published a " Life of
Chatterton." The most interesting matter in the volume
was the new and romantic information about the poet's child-
hood. The chief portion of this information was not included
in the biography, but was furnished in an Appendix, as " Com-
municated by G. Cumberland, Esq.'' It was ascribed to a Mrs.
Edkins, wife of a painter and glazier, but there is no proof of
it having been supplied by her.

Although all the more recent biographies of Chatterton are
largely based upon this " Account," a considerable portion of
it is evidently fictitious, as are other parts of Cumberland's
" Communication," and the whole of it is doubtful. John Dix,
the compiler of the volume, was a notorious publisher of literary
myths, one of them being a false account of the inquest on
Chatterton.

A most striking circumstance is that Chatterton, who, when
writing home, sent messages and remembrances to everybody
he had any knowledge of in Bristol, never makes the slightest
allusion to Mrs. Edkins (then Miss James), yet according to the
" Account " she had been a " second mother " to him, and had
been his most confidential and affectionate companion from his
birth, at which, it is stated, she was present. This remarkable
omission is alone sufficient to invalidate the whole of the narra-
tive purporting to be by Mrs. Edkins. Neither Chatterton's
mother nor his sister ever mentions her name in their state-
ments, and her alleged assertions as to the boy having fabricated

APPENDICES 293

manuscripts whilst a schoolboy at Colston's Hospital is contrary
to their testimony and the evidence of several other trustworthy
persons. That Mrs. Edkins should have spoken to the school-
boy about " his old Rowleys," at the very time she is said to
have been in fear as to what was the unknown work he was
engaged upon, is contradictory.

The whole account as to Lambert's behaviour is contrary to
fact, and has led biographers into all kinds of misstatements.
Chatterton never complained of Lambert, only of his own
position, and as he said to his mother when writing home from
London, " as an apprentice none had greater liberties" than he
had, "yet the thoughts of servitude killed me." It was his
longing for liberty, and to be his own master, which made him
dissatisfied at the scrivener's. Many of the remarks ascribed to
Mrs. Edkins, although alleged to be " given as near as possible
in her own words," are not such as would be expected from a
woman in her lowly position.

Lambert was a rich man, only twenty-eight years of age, who
had no knowledge of Chatterton's genius or aspirations. He
regarded him as a sullen lad, who made himself disagreeable
to his fellow servants, nevertheless, in after times, when asked
about his character, declared the lad was always home punctu-
ally, which is in direct opposition to the " Mrs. Edkins's
Account," and that his behaviour was always good, except
towards the servants. It must be regarded as evidence in
favour of Lambert's treatment of his apprentice that there is
nothing against him in Chatterton's satirical writings, wherein
only one other (Barrett) of his Bristolian associates is spared.
So far from destroying every scrap of his apprentice's manu-
scripts, the scrivener, when he recognised the interest they
inspired, carefully preserved such fragments as Chatterton left
behind him, as these pages show. Lambert was much liked by
his friends ; there does not appear any sign of maliciousness in
his disposition, and he was deeply hurt by the way in which his
non-recognition of the boy's abihties was animadverted upon by
the pubHc.

The presumed evidence of Mrs. Edkins against the character
of Chatterton's father is as untrustworthy as her anecdotes about
the son. It is unsupported by any known testimony. If she
could have been a pupil of Chatterton senior, as averred in

294 APPENDICES

Dix's book, she would have been far too young to have acted
and spoken to her schoolmaster in the manner stated, but it
does not seem possible that she could have been his pupil at all,
seeing that the Free School in Pile Street was for boys only.
This fact was, doubtless, unknown to Dix, although Mrs. Edkins
must have known it, and could scarcely have made the asser-
tion ascribed to her.

Many other of the statements alleged to have been made by
Mrs. Edkins are equally untrustworthy, such as the remark that
she " well remembers the coffer, or coffers, being removed by
men with poles," from the old Canynges mansion, to St. Mary
Redcliff Church, when it is known to all that the coffers had
been in the church muniment room for centuries before Mrs.
Edkins was born.

All records would appear to imply that Mrs. Chatterton had
a fond regard for the memory of her husband, which would
scarcely have been the case if he had been the brutal, heartless
sot represented in the " Account " by Mrs. Edkins. The pre-
cocious pupil must have been quite a child when, accord-
ing to the " Account," she reproached the schoolmaster for
neglecting his prudent wife, and asked him what he married
her for, and was answered, " solely for a housekeeper." This
conversation, with others equally circumstantial, was supposed
to be related after a lapse of more than half a century.

No biographer, careful as to the truth of his work, should
place any reliance upon " Mrs. Edkins's Account " as given in
the work of John Dix.

APPENDIX B

"the exhibition"

" ' I ''HE Exhibition : A Personal Satyr" has never been pub-
X hshed, the reason assigned for its suppression being the
nature of its theme. The poem is based upon the story of the
improper behaviour of a person at Bristol, but, like most of Chat-
terton's sarcastic pieces, it frequently digresses from its presumed
subject, and touches upon a variety of alien matters. Although
" The Exhibition " has never been given to the public, it contains
much verse quite as deserving preservation as that included in
its author's published lines, and portions of it have indeed done
service in some of his best-known poems. Fifty consecutive
lines appeared in his " Kew? Gardens," comprising the greatly
admired couplet : —

" He keeps the passions with the sound in play,
And the soul trembles with the trembling key."

The suppression of the poem was not entirely due to the
nature of its theme, but in a great extent to the personaUty of
its references to many well-known BristoHans. There is no
reason to suppose that Chatterton ever intended the lines for
publication, and, indeed, the very nature of their subject forbade
such an idea in extenso, but when after their author's death
every scrap of his writing was seized upon for publicity, George
Catcott became alarmed at the probability of " The Exhibition "
being included with the rest of the poet's writings, and pro-
tested most energetically and effectively against the publication
of a work which reflected so seriously and libellously upon
many of his relatives and friends. Owing to the suppression of
the poem and its supposed unsuitability for publication, editors

296 APPENDICES

of Chatterton's works have been deterred from including it in
their collection of his writings.

Notwithstanding the circumstances connected with the sup-
pression of the poem, and allowing for the inequaUty of merit of
the various portions, there does not seem to be any real reason,
nowadays, why "The Exhibition" should not be published,
provided the few offensive allusions be omitted, although Pro-
fessor Wilson may be justified in remarking of what he probably
never read, " It would have been well had it perished, with its
evidence that youthful purity had been sullied, and the pre-
cocious boy was only too conversant with forbidden things."

The subject of the poem, the supposed arraignment of a well-
connected Bristolian before his professional brethren for ill-
behaviour, afforded Chatterton full scope for his sarcastic powers,
especially as he was well acquainted, personally or by repute,
with all the people referred to in his lines. The fair copy of
the poem, which purports to be the first book only, consists of
four hundred and forty lines. It was stated to have been begun
on May ist, and finished on the 3rd of that month, in 1770, con-
sequently, it must have been written after its author's arrival in
London. By the kind permission of the Bristol Art Gallery
Committee, in whose possession the manuscript now is, we are
permitted to publish the poem.

" The Exhibition," save only the lines above referred to, is
now published for the first time, and although neither the
subject nor its treatment will place it amongst its author's best
productions, it is certainly deserving of preservation as further
proof of Chatterton's skill in seizing upon and portraying the
salient characteristics of the persons he came in contact with,
although it is to be hoped that he judged his contemporaries
the rather by evil report and malicious misstatement than by
facts.

I give the names — as far as able — in brackets.

The Exhibition. Book First.

May I, 1770.
Of Exhibitions infamous I sing.
Not such as boast the presence of a King
Where miserable daubings envious vie
For the poor wonder of an Ideot's (sic) eye ;

APPENDICES 297

Where tawdry glare and despicable shew
Burlesque and Elegance to please a Beau.
Not such as dignifies this rising land
Where Genius animates the Painter's hand :
Where all the excellence of real Taste
With every judgment but a King's is grac'd.
The Exhibition which the Muse prepares
To please the Modest Virgin's eyes and ears,
Soars above all the mimickry of Art. . . .
This truth, this mighty truth, if Truth can shine
In the smooth polish of a laboured Line,
[Catcott] by sad Experience testifies ;

And who shall tell a sabled Priest he lies.
Bred to the juggling of the specious band
Predestinated to adorn the Land,
The selfish [Catcott] ripened to a Priest,
And wore the sable livery of the Beast.
By birth to prejudice and whim allied,
And heavy with hereditary pride,
He modelled pleasure by a fossil rule
And spent his youth to prove himself a Fool ;
Buried existence in a lengthen'd cave.
And lost in dreams whatever Nature gave.

How can these attributes be sound within
When Satan tempts the inward man to sin !
Fly hence Temptation, [Catcott's] heavenly Heart
Is never mov'd but in the better part.
Devotion only warms his freezing blood.

But since of Clerical degree some few

Have served the Flesh and serv'd the Spirit too ;

Since versed in all varieties of Vice

Hell gave us [Broughton] and Heaven gave us Price,

That one's devotion, so had God decreed,

Should counteract the other's evil deed ;

And when the reverend Rector undertook

To curse a Harlot by the Bell and Book,

The other might the Plumes of Mercy spread. . . .

And take the wandering sinner to his bed.

298 APPENDICES

Hail, pious [Broughton] could the author hope

For the high slight {sic) of Metaphor or Trope,

To reach the summit of thy hellish crimes

And stamp thee infamous to after times

The rapid Muse should urge the hasty Flight

And vengeance in the garb of Genius write ;

But rest contented in thy little state

Great Villains are above the reach of Fate.

Offer' d to party little Rascalls fall

While greater Rascalls bear off the prize of all.

When Justice lingers to curtail thy days

Live Murderer, live, in your Protector's praise.

Since the nice conscience of Iscariot's Son

Did what the soul of [Broughton] would have done.

Since the great curse Episcopacy spread

Its baleful poisons from the Fountain head

Has Christianity a glorious name ?

A Priest so skilful in the Arts of Shame,

Whose little soul with ev'ry meanness stain'd

Is in a constant course of vice maintained ;

Since sicken'd Fancy's wild intrusions brought

Contagious whims a Pestilence of thought.

First in the Cells of monkish dullness bred,

And sent into the World without a head,

Has Corcat Wilkins, or the dreaming tribe,

Who Revelation's Fairy Tales transcribe,

Equall'd great [Broughton] in his Fustian Une

For nonsense and absurdities divine ?

For false conclusions, mysteries of sense,

To which an Oracle might make pretence

Immortal as the Soul his Fame shall live

And an eternal fund for laughter give ;

A standing jest for Warburton or Louth. . . .

Enough of [Broughton], [Price] now sweeps along
Rich with the flatt'ry of Celestial Song
And whilst he searches for another prize
Only to feed his Sacerdotal Eyes. . . .

'Tis known I reverence the sacred black
Though on an Ideot's or a Villain's back.

APPENDICES 299

Newton's a Bishop : at the awful Name

I give him all his literary Fame ;

Own his prophetic influence and rejoice

That Wisdom can exalt his mighty voice,

And whilst the Sacerdotal Lawn I eye

Thro' that mysterious Fashion of the sky

I cannot see the reverend Prelate dull

A blinded, prejudiced and cheated Gull.

Cloth'd in each attribute of Hell is seen

The awkward Figure of a Bristol Dean.

[Barton], the holy [Barton] who presides

Over the conscience of the thing that guides

Spite of the many vices which I trace

In the black index of his ample face ;

Spite of his sleeping, indolence and ease,

I view him in his clerical degrees,

See his devotion in his drunken look,

His piety in his unopened Book,

His Christian patience in the Oaths he swears,

And all his many virtues in his Heirs.

[Camphn] how shall I justly state the case

Between thy pride of heart and pride of face ?

Thy haughty accent must bespeak at least

A soul above the common run of Priest.

And then, oh gracious Heaven : thy haughty stride

Would grace a Bishop with a proper pride ;

Thou too art sabled but thy conscious line

Will honour merit tho' it should be thine

Whilst none thy powerful argument will scan

But loose (sic) the preacher to observe the Man.

This truth the Muses shall proclaim aloud

That [Camplin ?] is as sensible as proud.

What means this throng, this multitude of Fools

Who square their actions by another's rules ?

'Tis [Stonehouse] preaches, Gods ! let fame resound

The tidings to the brandy Cellars round,

The specious Oracle, the Man of Noise,

The admiration of all Fools and Boys ;

Who finds out meanings (if his talk can mean)

For texts which Wesley dropt and left to glean ;

300 APPENDICES

Drybeats a Sentence, racks each Eastern Trope,
Nor hesitates betwixt a sandy rope :
Robbs Jacob Behmen of his Magic Wit
And unwrites all that Jacob Behmen writ.

the Jesuitical, the small,

The hot enthusiast, the crown of all,

So inconsistent with himself and vain

I strive to wound him with Satyric strain.

Should I attempt his Battle (?) to revoke,

He's gone and long backed William has the stroke.

Should I attempt his Mistress to entice

He's gone again ; the satire falls on Price.

If blamed for cards and swearing and all that

Still he eludes and shifts it to De Bat ;

Then, if accused of varying in his part

Presto ! he's fled ; and lo I've wounded Hart.

This Harlequin of sacred things will still

Elude the Vengeance of the lifted Quill ;

And hid behind his Brethren of the Gown

Escape the dubious blow and cheat the town.

[Robins] if Curates starv'd and pray'd away.

In the long labour of a Sabbath day,

May bear the honour to be rank'd with Those

Who rule the roast and lead them by the Nose.

[Robins] that Pulpit Fribble may be told

The blessings of a [Barton] must be sold.

The Whining Cant, the shrill religious Squeak

In which the reverend Molly learns to speak,

Went 'gainst the flint heart which [Barton] wears.

That heart more harden'd by the Widow's Tears.

Enough of Rectors, Curates, . . .

Thin peopled Pews and thronging Peoples Doors.

Now to the Exhibition we proceed,

And let the reader who can read it read.

O thou immortal power whose fire is such

Thy attributes are never known too much ;

Before whose Altar in the Mystic Rite

The Priest and Priestess sacredly unite. . . .

APPENDICES 301

With honest indignation nobly fill

My energetic, my revengeful Quill :

Let me in strains which Heav'n itself indites

Display the Rascals who abuse thy Rites.

Let me with fury throw the numbers round

And spend my Vengeance smoaking on the ground.

Flying on silken wings of dusky gray,

The cooling evening closed a sultry day.

The cit walked out to Avon's dusty vale.

To take a smack of Politics and Ale.

Whilst rocked in clumsy Coach about the Town

The prudent Mayor jogged his dinner down.

The members of the Faculty began
To sit upon the madness of the Man.
And Marshall'd round a despicable thing
Beneath the notice of the Bard to sing.
Smith was deputed, in his accents great,
Her Ladyship's Ambassador of State,
To bring this culprit to the bar and tell
The busy town without their help he fell. . . .

Still silence reigns, when prating [Smith] begins

To lay down all his Catalogue of sins.

Ye children of Corruption, who are fed

On the good fortune of a broken head. . . .

Who live luxuriant on a rotten shin.

And like the Devil's kingdom, thrive by Sin ;

To you, ye sons of torment, I commend

Patience and Vigilance until I end.

The Pris'ner at the Bar, whose downcast face

Betrays some little mark of inward Grace,

Has brought dishonour on our honoured name

And sold himself to infamy and shame. . . .

There Peter sits a Veteran in his Trade :

O the fixed resolution of his Blade !

To every rule of Surgery unknown,

But what the blockhead boasts of as his own.

302 APPENDICES

He amputates and mangles without skill ;
'Tis but (a) common trifle should he kill ;
Blund'ring when life is trembling on a thread
And adding mis'ry to the dying's Bed.
Perhaps he errs, but who can blame the man ?
If he can't mend his Errors [Barrett] can,
And this to play into a brother's hand
Is Charity, and makes the calling stand.
Death is a very trifle in our Trade
A Pill mistaken or too keen a Blade.

He ended and as usual in his way

Could in long orations nothing say.

Empty and without meaning he display'd

His Sire's loquacity in his array'd.

Barratt (sic) arose and with a thundering air

Stretched out his arm and digniiied the chair.

This madness unaccountable has long

Best [Been ?] known in Bristol's best Records a Song

Who in Antiquity so little read

Of all the learned Body round me spread. . . .

'Tis beyond dispute,
Mercy is heaven's supremest attribute, —
If [Barton] lives in Elegance and Ease
Renown'd for robbing Curates of their fees.

O Inspiration rising in my skull —
A certain token that the Moon's at full, —
Look to all learning, elegance and sense,
Long had this famous City told her pence.
Avarice sat brooding in her white-washed Cell '
And Pleasure had a Hut at Jacob's Well,
A mean Assembly-room, absurdly built.
Boasted one gorgeous lamp of copper gilt ;
With farthing candles, chandeliers of tin,
And services of water, rum, and gin.
There, in the dull solemnity of wigs.
The dancing bears of commerce murder jigs ;

■ Where the old Bristol theatre stood.

APPENDICES 303

Here dance the dowdy belles of crooked trunk;
And often, very often, reel home drunk ;

Enraptured with the genius of a Donn
WTio murders everything he writes upon,
All Bristol's Intellectuals seek the skies
Reform'd and systematically rise.

Great Drummond rose : distemper's greatest foe.

Soft is his physic, softer still his voice.

Soft as the heavenly harmony of Boyce.

Not such as Broderip tortures into sound,

Broderip for frippery of taste renown'd.

Whose jarring hum-drum symphonies of flats

Rival the harmony of midnight cats.

What charms has music, when great Broderip sweats

To murder sound to what his brother sets !

With scraps of Ballad Tunes and giid£ Scotch sangs,

Which godlike Ramsey to his Bagpipes twangs,

With tattered fragments of forgotten Plays,

With Playford's melody to Sternhold's Lays.

This Pipe of Science, mighty Broderip comes

And a strange unconcerted jumble strums ;

Roused to Devotion by a sprightly air

Danced into Piety and jigged to Prayer.

A modem Hornpipe's murder greets our Ears,

The Heavenly Music of Domestic Spheres ;

Sacred to sleep in this inverted Key

Dull doleful Diapasons die away,

Lull'd by the doleftil vacancy of Sound

The Vicar slumbers and the snoar {sic) goes round,

Whilst Broderip at his passive Organ groans

Through all his dumb variety of tones.

How unlike Allen ! Allen is divine !

Has something sentimental, tender, fine.

No superficial whimsies e'er disgraced

His more refin'd, his sentimental taste.

He keeps the passions with the sound in play.

And the soul trembles with the trembUng key.

304 APPENDICES

Great Drummond rose : Children of Science hear ;

And hear me from all prejudices clear.

Great the Offender, greater the offence,

'Tis against reason's law and common sense,

But if you credit Blackstone's first reports,

You'll find it no offence in lower Courts.

Since then deficiencies in Law are so.

Self punished let the beastly Culprit go.

He ended. Murmurs hail'd the speech divine,

The Sentence final and the accent fine.

All the rough Gang to mercy was inclin'd

For now the Clock struck three and none had din'd.

It is a curious circumstance connected with "The Exhi-
bition " that it was not only written in London, but that the
opening lines evidently refer to an exhibition of paintings in
the metropolis, which had been visited if not opened by the
King, and which had been contemptuously treated by Chat-
terton in his lines "To the Society at Spring Gardens" (page 216).
This being the case, it becomes a moot question whether the
youth was in Bristol during the inquiry instituted by the
surgeons, or whether he had based his account of it on
information furnished to him by some correspondent residing
there ; and it is not altogether idle speculation to conjecture
who that correspondent was. It could not have been George
Catcott, as all the story reflected strongly upon his relatives
and friends, and failing him there was, apparently, only one
person who could have known all the incidents of the meeting
and have informed Chatterton of them. All things point to
Barrett as the informant, to Barrett, the only person present at
the inquiry who was treated respectfully and left unscarified
by the poet. The verses concluded with the words, " End of
the ist Book, May 3rd, 1770," therefore it may be assumed that
Chatterton intended to resume the subject, whether he did so
or not.

APPENDIX C

WALPOLE

IT has already been intimated that people are unwilling to
believe that a British nobleman — and Horace Walpole did
eventually succeed to the Earldom of Orford — could persis-
tently and maliciously strive to dishonour the memory of an
unfortunate young poet, who had not committed some unpar-
donable offence. The fact that this nobleman continually
referred to Chatterton as a criminal is, in the mind of the
multitude, sufficient proof of the guilt of the accused. As
Professor Skeat says, " Walpole no doubt thought that posterity
would be sure to take his part as against Chatterton," adding,
" I fail to see why it should be expected to do so."

Walpole judged correctly. He did his best to mislead
posterity. After Chatterton's death, when biographies and
memories of him began to be suggested, Walpole and his
toadies flooded the periodicals with attacks on the dead boy's
personal character ; with sneers at the meanness of his talents,
and warnings of the mischief which would arise from publishing
a life of such a scoundrel. On the death of Barrett, who in his
" History of Bristol " had published the correspondence which
had passed between the dead poet and the hving peer, Walpole
not only assured his intimate acquaintances that he had never
received or sent the letters asserted to have passed, but even cir-
culated a note to the effect that " Mr. Walpole gives all his
friends full authority to say that he never before saw the letters
pubhshed by Mr. Barrett, in his ' History of Bristol,' as letters
sent to him by Thomas Chatterton ; and he wishes this to be
generally known, lest after his death, some pretended answers
to them should be produced as having been written by him."

Notwithstanding these positive assertions by Walpole, his
letter to Chatterton, of March 28, 1769, in his own handwriting, is

20 305

306 APPENDICES

still in existence, and may be seen in the British Museum, duly
watered, addressed, and postmarked, proving its delivery through
the post ; and Chatterton's letter to him, respecting the non-
return of his manuscripts, was found amongst Walpole's papers
by his executors.

Much of the mud which has smirched the reputation of the
unfortunate Chatterton's character can be traced to Walpole ; it
is, therefore, as a corrective, although tardy, of the gross cruelty
of the traducer, that the following facts respecting the assailant's
own character are recalled to the light of day. It is within the
knowledge of students of English literature that Walpole pub-
lished the tale of "The Castle of Otranto" as a "translation
from the Italian," and as soon as its success seemed assured
gave forth that he was its author. The honesty of the transac-
tion does not need discussion ; nor is the forgotten assertion
of the contemporary Press worth investigating, that the first
statement was the true one, and that the story was taken from
a foreign original : ' nor need it be argued whether Walpole
derived the plot and incidents of his drama, " The Mysterious
Mother," from one of Chatterton's Rowley papers on a similar
subject, instead of having written it, as he protested, when he
was young. These are trivial matters compared with the graver
offences of this nobleman. One of the most despicable crimes
brought home to the man is his forgery of a letter pretended
to be written to Rousseau by Frederick, King of Prussia. The
story is related in Musset-Pethay's " Vie de Jean Jacques
Rousseau " ; in D'Israeli's " Curiosities of Literature " ; in Dele-
pierre's " Supercheries Litteraires," and in other works, so that
there is no need to ignore the case. An account of the fraud
is given in Mrs. F. Macdonald's recent work on Rousseau,
wherein the mean and malicious nature of this dastardly outrage
on the feelings and even personal security of an unfortunate
broken-down author, by a man who did not even know him
personally, is shown in its true colours.

In a letter still extant Walpole acknowledges to Hume that
he is the author of this skilfully forged letter ; which letter,

' The European Magazine of April, 1782, says there is
" good reason to think and say that the ' Castle of Otranto' is a
translation from the Italian."

APPENDICES 307

purporting to come from a still living sovereign, who had just
before offered an asylum in his own palace to the persecuted
author, is the acme of insult and injury. The letter, given in
full in Mrs. Macdonald's work, was widely circulated in France
and England : it ridiculed and referred with spiteful irony to
the misfortunes of the man to whom it was addressed, and
being believed to come from his royal friend and protector,
rendered Rousseau's position almost unbearable.' The manner
of Walpole's confession adds to his offence, and the whole
transaction is one of the shabbiest recorded in literary history.
As a matter of fact Walpole hated men of genius and especially
those who did not or would not toady to him. He wrote of
" the absurd bombast of Dr. Johnson " ; referred to " the silly
Goldsmith" as an "idiot" ; spoke of Spenser with contempt ;
of Dante as " a Methodist parson in Bedlam," and declared that
" A Midsummer Night's Dream " was " forty times more
nonsensical than the worst translation of any Italian opera-
books " ; of Sterne's " Tristram Shandy " as " a very insipid and
tedious performance," and as " the dregs of nonsense " ; and
in his voluminous correspondence endeavoured to blast the
reputations of numerous men and women, some of whom he
was associating with at the time as a friend. No more despic-
able a man ever intruded his personality into the world of
letters. To trace out all the misdeeds which have been brought
home to the owner of Strawberry Hill would be a wretched
task, but an idea of many of the culpable, dishonourable trans-
actions in which he was concerned may be gained by reference
to the Quarterly Review for July, 1822. That publication justly
states, that " against all the rest of his fellow-creatures Walpole
seems to have had the feelings of a tiger cat, sometimes
sportive, sometimes ferocious, always cruel." After an ex-
posure of several of the man's falsehoods and forgeries, not
including any of those referred to in this work, the review
concludes a criticism of Walpole's "Memoirs " by warning readers
to " receive with extreme caution and doubt the evidence of a
witness who in so many weighty points has been, we may
almost say convicted, of all the arts of calumny, misrepresenta-
tion, and falsehood."

See St. James's Chronicle, April 3, 1766.

APPENDIX D
chatterton's burial-place

THE romantic story of the removal of Chatterton's body
from London to Bristol and its burial in the chm-chyard of
St. Mary Redcliff was iirst promulgated in 1829. In a note to a
volume of his own " Poems and Essays," Joseph Cottle then
averred that it had been ascertained that the poet's remains
" were sent from London to Mrs. Chatterton at Bristol, in a box,
by the wagon, by an uncle of Chatterton (a carpenter, who resided
in London), and that he was buried by night in the churchyard
of his own Redcliff Church. An elderly lady, but recently dead,
a friend of Chatterton's mother, saw the body, and was enjoined
by Mrs. Chatterton to keep the occurrence a profound secret,
from its involving some hazard to the sexton."

It will be seen that this first reference to the " recently
deceased " lady informant was about sixty years after the
poet's death, and as she was Mrs. Chatterton's friend and
was trusted by her with so important and profound a secret,
it can be safely assumed that she was of mature age at the
time, at any rate little under ninety, when Cottle, who does not
give her name, spoke of her in 1829 as lately dead.

In 1837 John Dix pubhshed a " Life of Chatterton," and
in the Appendix credited George Cumberland with a similar
story of Chatterton's supposed burial at Bristol, together with
an amount of circumstantial evidence in support of the tale.
The names of several dead or undiscoverable persons were
referred to as witnesses to the trustworthiness of the narrative.
The more than dubious character of the Appendix having be-
come known, this burial story was about to be relegated to that
limbo whence so many tales told of Chatterton have been
consigned, when George Pryce, a writer on architectural sub-

APPENDICES 309

jects, in a work on " Memorials of the Canynges' Family,"
stated that he had obtained evidence to satisfy his readers that
" the bones of the poor lad have rested undisturbed from the
period of his death, in his father's grave, in the churchyard of
St. Mary Redcliff — there to mingle in consecrated ground with
those he loved in life." After citing as authorities " Dix's
Appendix " and the fabricated account of an inquest on
Chatterton, the fraudulent nature of which imposture is too
notorious to need any further refutation, George Pryce quotes
the additional evidence he has obtained regarding this alleged
Bristol burial. Joseph Cottle, of whose want of accuracy in his
old age, when speaking of the " Burgham Pedigree," something
has already been said, wrote to Sholto Vere Hare, on the nth
of January, 1853, to the following effect, and this constitutes
the new evidence : "... You are probably unaware that
Chatterton, instead of having been buried in the graveyard
of Shoreditch [Shoe Lane] Workhouse, was buried in our
Redcliffe Church Yard. I will state to you the evidence on
which this fact rests and which quite satisfies my mind.

" About forty years ago, Mr. Geo. Cumberland (a descendant
of Bishop Cumberland, a literary and highly respectable man
whom I well knew) called on me and said, ' I have ascertained
one important fact respecting Chatterton.' — ' What is it ? ' I
replied. — ' It is,' said he, ' that that marvellous boy was buried
in Redcliffe Churchyard.' He continued, ' I am just come from
conversing with old Mrs. Edkins, a friend of Chatterton's
mother : she affirmed to me this fact with the following ex-
planation.' Thus Mrs. Edkins : ' Mrs. Chatterton was pas-
sionately fond of her darling and only son, Thomas, ' and when
she heard that he had destroyed himself, she immediately wrote
to a relation of hers (the poet's uncle, then residing in London),
a carpenter, urging him to send down his body in a coffin or
box. The box was accordingly sent down to Bristol, and when
I called on my friend Mrs. Chatterton to condole with her, she,
as a great secret, took me upstairs and shewed me the box, and
removing the lid, I saw the poor boy, whilst his mother sobbed
in silence. She told me she should have him taken out in the
middle of the night and bury him in Redcliffe Churchyard.

She had had another son who died in infancy.

310 APPENDICES

Afterwards when I saw her, she said she had managed it very
well, so that none but the sexton and his assistant knew any-
thing about it. This secrecy was necessary, or he could not be
buried in consecrated ground.'

" This evidence I think quite sufficient to satisfy all reason-
able minds. . . .

" Very truly yours,

"Joseph Cottle."

Upon investigation there appears every reason to believe that
this circumstantial narrative is founded upon fabricated testi-
mony. In the first place, why did Cottle not give the whole
story in 1829 in his " Poems and Essays," wherein he related
every item he could gather to make his story of Chatterton
picturesque and pathetic ? Secondly, why did George Cumber-
land not include this statement in the account he furnished
John Dix as to what Mrs. Edkins had told him? The
account ascribed to her of Chatterton and his surroundings is
lengthy, circumstantial, and minute, although most of it can he
shown to be false and the remainder improbable. Why should
so interesting an item be kept back ? Moreover, the narrative
ascribed to Mrs. Edkins in Dix's Appendix ends thus : she
states that she saw Mrs. Chatterton " soon after the death of
her son. She told her she came chiefly to inquire after her
health. 'Aye,' she said, 'and something else?' She then
burst into a flood of tears, and they sat and wept together, hut
no more was said till they parted." Therefore, Mrs. Edkins, in
her last remark, was either untruthful to Cumberland, or else
her story to Cottle was false, if she ever told it.

It is a curious circumstance that Cumberland, according to
the Appendix to Dix's " Life of Chatterton," pubhshed in 1837,
had furnished a somewhat similar story of the poet's burial in
Bristol, giving a Mrs. Stockwell, the wife of a basket-maker, as
his authority, so that Cottle's letter, instead of corroborating
the tale, renders it more improbable. It should be stated that
when he wrote the letter quoted to Sholto Vere Hare, Cottle
was a very old man, dying not long afterwards in his eighty-
fourth year ; it is therefore charitable to suppose that he had
confused the curious stories Cumberland had told him, or he
had read in Dix, many years ago, and thus imputed to Mrs.

APPENDICES 311

Edkins what had been ascribed to Mrs. Stockwell. It must not
be overlooked, however, that this same Cottle, who, when edit-
ing Chatterton's works in 1803, has said simply and truly that
the boy poet was " about sixteen years of age " when he called
on Burgum, the pewterer, and informed him he had his
pedigree at home, and had discovered from it that the man
was allied to several distinguished families, in 1829, ignoring
or forgetting his printed and signed statement of twenty-six
years before, fabricated an entirely different story. In his
new account of Chatterton's visit, "in his blue-coat habiliments,"
when he must have been some months under fifteen, Cottle in-
vents a highly coloured conversation, told verbatim, between
Burgham (sic) and the lad, all new and never before reported.

It does appear strange that a highly respected man like
Cottle, who speaks with honest indignation of the tricks played
with Chatterton's Rowley Manuscripts by Catcott and Barrett,
and a nobleman, as Walpole was, who speaks of the " forgeries "
and " impositions " of Chatterton, should both be discovered to
have been guilty, but in higher degree, of the very offences
they accuse others of.

The alleged burial of Chatterton's body at St. Mary Redcliff
churchyard rests entirely upon the alleged statement of a Mrs.
Stockwell to George Cumberland, according to Dix's account,
and no corroborative evidence of the circumstance has been
obtained. George Price, writing to Notes and Queries three
years after he had published the above quoted letter from Cottlcj
declared that he believed the whole of Cottle's statement "to
have been made without the slightest foundation in truth,"
adding, " Mr. Cumberland was not sufficiently careful in examin-
ing the veracity of the evidence which he procured." C. V.
Le Grice shows that Mrs. Newton, the poet's sister, had no
knowledge of her brother's remains having been buried any-
where but in London. Judging the whole matter impartially,
the only conclusion to be arrived at is, that there is not the
sHghtest iota of trustworthy testimony to show that the poet's
remains were buried anywhere else than in "The Pit," belonging
to Shoe Lane Workhouse.

In his "Homes and Haunts of the British Poets" Howitt
states it appeared from inquiries he had made that the burial
spot in Shoe Lane had been identified, and that a headstone

312 APPENDICES

has been erected there by some of Chatterton's admirers. The
Art yoiirnal said the spot was pointed out where the poet was
buried, and " a rough white stone " was remembered to have
been " set in a wall near the grave," with " Thomas Chatterton
and something else scratched into it." The same account refers to
" all the bones" from the Shoe Lane burial-ground having been
" moved to the old graveyard in Gray's Inn Road," but Howitt,
in his ultra-dramatic story of the removal, deems it most prob-
able that the poor young poet's remains were scattered, no one
knows whither.

APPENDIX E

ROVTLEY POEMS

ALL that the reader is likely to wish to know of the in-
ception and promulgation of the Rowley- poems has been
gone into fully in the preceding narrative. There is no longer
any speculation as to their authorship. It has been decided for
aU time that they are the production of Thomas Chatterton. All
that remains to be given is a concise account of the poems them-
selves.

The earUest known and most poptilar of these poems is " The
Execution of Sir Charles Bawdin," commonly miscalled " The
Bristowe Tragedie." Chatterton's relatives at home were generally
unable to appreciate his antique productions, but when he read
this beautiful ballad to his mother, Mrs. Xewton records that
she admired it greatly and asked him if he had made it. He
rephed, " I found the argument and versified it.'' An investi-
gation as to how much he found of "the argument," or how
much he invented, would be useless, and it is only desirable to
know what the piece is Hke. The language of the poem, when
it was first produced by Chatterton, was less disguised in
antique spelhng than were most of his later pieces ; but after it
had passed through the hands of George Catcott, it was dis-
covered to have suffered by re\-ision. It is the first of the
Rowley poems pubhshed after the author's death ; it was issued
in 1772, at the instance, apparently, of George Catcott, and upon
its appearance Walpole, who never neglected an opportunity
of depreciating Chatterton's work, ignoring editorial statements
wrote to Mason, '' Somebody, I fancy Dr. Percy, has produced
a dismal, duU ballad, called "The Execution of Sir Charles
Bawdin," and given it for one of the Bristol poems, called
Rowley's."

313

314 APPENDICES

The hero of the ballad is supposed to typify a Sir Baldwin
Fulford, a zealous Lancastrian, whose execution had been
ordered by Edward IV., but there is no absolute certainty of
the historic truth of any of the incidents related in the Tragedie.
The poem opens in a spirited, natural style : —

"The feathered songster, Chanticleer,
Had wound his bugle horn,
And told the early villager
The coming of the morn.

King Edward saw the ruddy streaks

Of light eclipse the gray ;
And heard the raven's croaking throat

Proclaim the fated day.

'Thou'rt right,' quoth he, 'for, by the God

That sits enthroned on high !
Charles Bawdin, and his fellows twain,

To-day shall surely die.' "

The character of Bawdin is depicted with the directness and
simpUcity of the early balladists, and some exalted thoughts are
beautifully expressed by the boy poet in his delineation of the
worthy knight, as when he makes him say he " summed the
actions of the day each night before I slept" ; an expression
which impressed Shelley so strongly that, somewhat diluted and
impoverished, he reproduced it in his youthful poem, " Queen
Mab."

Bawdin's assertion that the tyrant usurper may destroy his
body but cannot injure his mind, is scarcely accordant with the
words of the olden poets, yet is not out of keeping with the
lofty tone of the poem. The parting of the condemned knight
from his wife is as manly as it is pathetic, and his accusatory
words to the king, whom he beholds at the window, are
dignified and noble, and so touch home, that —

" King Edward's soul rushed to his face,
He turned his head away" ;

and he was compelled to exclaim — •

APPENDICES 315

" Behold the man ! he spoke the truth !
He's greater than a King ! "

The most important of the Rowley poems, on account of its
powerful dehneation of character and the sagacity of its
dramatic treatment, is the play, or, as Chatterton elected to style
it, the " Tragycal Enterlude, or Disoorseynge Tragedie," of
" ^Ua." Its author had a due appreciation of the value of his
drama, and described it to Dodsley, the pubUsher, as " a
beauteous piece," and says, "It is a perfect Tragedy ; the plot
clear, the language spirited, and the Songs (interspersed in it)
are flowing, poetical, and elegantly simple ; the similes judiciously
applied " ; a description that could scarcely be more correctly or
concisely rendered. Dean Milles, whose chief object was to
prove the superiority of this work over anything Chatterton
could possibly have written, states that in " ^lla " " the qualities
necessary to give grace and beauty to such a representation
were, simplicity of idea, sentiment, and expression, natural and
obvious images," and many other " characteristics of the Greek
tragedians." And the learned Dean finds that " if the tragedy
of '^Ua' be examined by these rules, it will be found to agree
with them almost in every instance " ; in fact, is so full of
beauties that could only be acquired by a learned person of
great worldly knowledge and ripe experience, it was utterly
impossible for it to have been the production of " a youth of
sixteen, born and bred in indigence, newly discharged from
a school, where the intention of the establishment was fully
satisfied with reading and writing well."

The drama so highly and justly commended is prefaced by a
poetic " Epistle to Mastre Canynge," which strikes this keynote
in the first stanza : — ■

" 'Tis sung by Minstrels, that in ancient time,
When Reason hid herself in clouds of night,
The Priest delivered all the law in rhyme ;
Like painted tilting-spear to please the sight.
The which in its fell use doth make much dere '
As did their ancient song deftly delight the ear."

' Harm.

316 APPENDICES

Rowley's unmonkish opinion of the ancient dramatic mys-
teries is thus given in the concluding stanza of the Epistle : —

" Plays made from holy tales I hold unmeet ;
Let some great story of a man be sung ;
When as a man, we God and Jesus treat,
In my poor mind, we do the Godhead wrong.
But let no words, which chasteness may not hear,
Be placed in the same. Adieu until anere." '

A further " Letter to Mastre Canygne " follows, full of humour
and marvellous grasp of character, displaying a knowledge of
all things a lad of his years would be expected to be deficient in.
Finally, the drama commences. JEWa, warden of Bristol castle,
has just been married to Birtha, and the newly-wedded pair
are being entertained by the poetic efforts of various minstrels,
whose songs are by no means the least interesting portion of
the play.

A " Minstrel's Song," with stanzas alternately sung by a
man and woman, is replete with humour and rustic simplicity,
telling the complete story of a pastoral wooing in a few lines. A
second ballad in quite a different note follows, and is highly
appreciated by the poet's admirers for its descriptive touches
of nature. This is succeeded by a song purporting to be by
Sir Thybbot Gorges, one of that brilliant band of bards which
scintillates around Mastre Canynge. This metrical composition
is in a lighter vein and quite unlike anything known of fifteenth-
century poetry. As Warton pointed out, it is not unsuited to
the comic poetry of modern times, especially by the use in it of
double rhymes, so suggestive of the burlesque. It is worth
quoting, as a specimen of Chatterton's powers in a style so
different from his other works : —

" As Elinour by the green arbour was sitting, *,

As from the sun's heat she harried,^
She said, as her white hands white hosen were knitting,
' What pleasure it is to be married !

Next time. " Hurried.

APPENDICES 317

'My husband, Lord Thomas, a forester bold.
As ever clove pin or the basket,'
Does no kind of comfort from Elinour hold,
I have it as soon as I ask it.

' When I lived with my father in merry Cloud-dell,
Tho' 'twas at my choice to mind spinning,
I still wanted something, but what could not tell,
My father's barbed = hall had naught winning.3

' Each morning I rise, do I order my maidens,
Some to spin, some to curdle, some bleaching.
If any new entered do ask for my aidance.
Then swiftly you find me a-teaching.

' Lord Walter, my father, he loved me well.
And nothing unto me was needing.
But should I again go to merry Cloud-dell,
In sooth it would be without redeynge.' *

She said, and Lord Thomas came over the lea.
As he the fat deerkins was chasing.
She put up her knitting, and to him went she ;
So we leave them both kindly embracing."

On the conclusion of this merry song, the harmony of the
wedding festivities is interrupted by the arrival of messengers,
who announce an incursion of the Danes, and call on .^EUa
to lead the troops against the invaders. Naturally Birtha is
loath to let her newly-wedded husband go, and she makes most
pathetic appeals to his love to keep him, but honour calls, and
he has to depart. The following day, ^lla engages the
invaders and puts them to flight, but is severely wounded in so
^doing. Celmond, one of his officers, entertains a guilty love for
Birtha, which overpowers his sense of honour and duty to his

' Terms in archery.

= Armed, but applied properly to horses only.

3 Alluring. ■• Advice.

318 APPENDICES

chieftain. He makes use of Ella's wound to entice the lady
from her home, and under the plea that her husband needs her
presence, gets her to leave with him. In a lonely part of the
forest he declares his lawless passion to her. Her cries are
overheard by a party of the defeated Danes, in charge of their
chieftain, Hurra, who rescues her and slays the treacherous
Celmond. The generous Hurra, learning who the lady is,
escorts her towards her husband's camp.

In the meantime messengers reach ^lla and inform him that
his wife has fled from home with Celmond. With unnatural
haste, with an improbability that is the chief blot on the drama,
the wounded man at once assumes that his newly-wedded wife
has forsaken him for another, and in the misery caused by the
presumed desertion, stabs himself. As he is dying Birtha
arrives, in the care of Hurra, and explains all. It is too late.
The impetuous hero dies as his wife falls fainting on his body.

The various personages of the play are clearly individualised,
and the situations are cleverly, if somewhat melodramatically,
put before the audience. Numerous quotations of high poetic
value can be gleaned from "^lla," and it is scarcely depreciating
their worth to say that they are frequently suggestive of a close
study of Shakespeare, as, indeed, is this charmingly pathetic
roundelay sung by the minstrels to Birtha during her husband's
absence : —

" O ! synge unto mie roundelaie,
^ O ! droppe the brynie teare wythe mee,

Daunce no more atte hallie dale,
Like a running ryver bee ;
Mie love is dedde,
Gone to his death-bed.
All under the willow-tree.

Black his hair as the wintere nighte,
Whyte hys skin as the summer snow.
Red his face as the mornynge lyghte,
Cold he lyes ynne the grave belowe ;

Mie love is dedde.

Gone to his death-bed.

All under the willow-tree.

APPENDICES 319

Sweet his tongue as the throstle's note,
Quick inn dance as thoughte canne bee,
Deft his tabour, cudgelle stout,
O ! hee lyes bie the willow-tree :

Mie love is dedde.

Gone to his death-bed,

All under the willow-tree.

Harke ! the raven flags his wing,
In the briared dell below;
Harke ! the dethe-owle loud doth sing,
To the nyghte-mares as they goe ;

Mie love ys dedde,

Gone to his deathe-bedde,

All under the willow-tree.

See ! the white moone shines onne hie ;
Whiter is my true love's shroud ;
Whiter than the mornynge skie.
Whiter than the evening cloud ;

Mie love ys dedde,

Gone to his deathe-bedde.

All under the willow-tree.

Heere, upon mie true love's grave,
Shall the barren flowers be layde.
Not one holy saint to save.
All the coldness of a mayde.

Mie love ys dedde.

Gone to hys deathe-bedde,

AUe under the wyllow-tree.

Wythe mie hands I'lle plant the briars
Round his holy cross to gre,'
Elfish fairie, light your fires,
Heere mie boddie styll shall bee.

Mie love is dedde,

Gone to hys deathe-bedde,

Al under the wyllow-tree.

" Grow.

320 APPENDICES

Come, wythe acorn-cup and thorn,
Drayne mie heart's blodde awaie ;
Lyfe and all its goode I scorn,
Daunce bie night, or feaste by daie.

Mie love ys dedde,

Gone to hys deathe-bedde.

All under the wyllowe-tree."

" ^lla " was evidently a favourite hero with the boy poet,
who frequently refers to his mythical " Lord of the Castle of
Bristol in days of yore." In some commonplace verses
supposed to be sent by Rowley as a challenge to "Johne
Ladgate" '(presumedly Lydgate, Chaucer's disciple), to outdo
him in versification, the Bristol priest is represented by a
" Song to ^lla," the opening lines of which boldly put in this
claim for immortality : —

" Oh, thou, or what remains of thee,
^lla, the darling of futurity,
Let this my song bold as thy courage be.
As everlasting to posterity."

The metre of the different stanzas of this song varies from
time to time ; the third stanza is strongly reminiscent of
Drayton's fine ballad of " Agincourt " : —

" Drawn by the weapon fell,
Down to the depth of hell
Thousands of Dacians went ;
Bristolians men of might,
Dared then the bloody fight,
And acted deeds full quent." '

Ladgate's lines in response are as poor as Rowley's are good,
and show no trace of the boy's work. They may not be his :
the original manuscript copy of them in the British Museum is
certainly not in Chatterton's handwriting, any more than is a
twelve-folio page manuscript sold in a London auction-room,
some few years ago, as " the first draft of Chatterton's master-

' Quaint.

APPENDICES 321

piece, ' ^Ua.' " It was stated that the spelling of this manu-
script, which realised £2^,^, " is of Chatterton's period
throughout," and that " it was undoubtedly an afterthought of
his to utilise the orthography of the period of the supposed
Thomas Rowley," in the conversion of a comparatively modern
work entitled " Eldred " into the pseudo-archaic drama of
" JEllz." That such a process of antiquating his productions
was adopted by Chatterton is certain, but that this " Eldred " is
one of his works is more than doubtful. There would not be
much difficulty in proving by experts whose calligraphy the
manuscript is in, and that it is not Chatterton's seems equally
certain. Some one, probably from pecuniary reasons, has trans-
lated the Rowleyese drama into modern EngUsh.

Wilson, writing under some unaccountable misunderstanding,
says that " ' .i^lla,' Chatterton's masterpiece, is professedly the
work of an elder poet than Rowley, ' modernised ' by the old
priest for his patron's behoof," but the manuscript gives no such
information. It is stated to be " wrotenn bie Thomas Rowleie,"
and to have been played before Master Canynges, when the
character of ^lla was taken " bie Thomas Rowleie, preeste,
the Aucthoure." The priest could not have been " old " either
at that period ; but Wilson's narrative is at times strangely
inaccurate and misleading.

Of " Goddvsryn," another metrical tragedy ascribed to Rowley,
only a fragment remains. It is ushered into notice by a
" Prologue, made bie Maistre William Canynge." The spirited
introductory stanzas of this prologue might have suited an
audience in Chatterton's days, but in the monkish time of
Edward the Fourth would have procured their author excom-
munication, and not improbably something worse.

Modernised they read thus : —

" Whilom by penmen much ungentle name
Have upon Godwin, Earl of Kent been laid.
Thereby bereaving him of faith and fame ;
Relentless ministers have said,
That he was known to do no holy wurche ; '
But this was all his fault, he gifted not the church

Work.
21

322 APPENDICES

The author of the piece which we enact,
Albeit a clergyman, truth will write,
In drawing of his men no wit is lackt ;
Even a king might be full pleased to-night.
Attend, and note the parts to be done :
We for to better do, do challenge any one."

Not Godwin, but his son Harold, the people's favourite, is
the real hero of this drama. He poses as a typical liberator
of his native land from the thraldom of the foreigners, too
much favoured by the reigning sovereign, Edward the
Confessor. The king is represented as a priest-ridden bigot,
wholly out of sympathy with his English subjects. The play
starts well, but just as it is becoming interesting and the plot
begins to unravel, the fragment breaks off with the grand invoca-
tion by Chorus, already quoted in the biographical portion of
this work. It has been surmised that Chatterton did complete
this drama, although so small a portion is now known ; and it is
thought that the missing scenes may have been destroyed in
the terrible anguish preceding its author's last moments.

Another drama, or " Enterlude," styled " The Apostate," has
disappeared, only a few lines quoted in the notes to a manu-
script of " The Parliament of Sprytes " having been preserved.
"Thy pride will be aleeste," or " humbled," according to Rowley,
appears in the introduction as well as the four following lines : —

" Not goulde or bighes ' wylle brynge thee heaven were,
Ne kyne or mylkie flockes upon the playne,
Ne mannours rych nor banners brave and fayne,
Ne wise the sweetest of the erthlie trayne."

The orthography of this specimen of Rowley has evidently
been revised by Barrett.

The " English Metamorphosis," although ascribed to Rowley,
is imitated from the second book of Spenser's " Faery Queen,"
a work written a century and a half after the period in which
the Bristolian priest was supposed to be living ! It deals with
the legendary history of Locrine, the British king, whose adven-

' Jewels.

APPENDICES 323

tures have engaged the pens of many English poets, from
Shakespeare to Swinburne. In Chatterton's version of the
story he employs his revision of the Spenserian stanza, telling
the tale in vigorous verse.

A more noteworthy effort of the Rowleyean muse is the piece
styled " The Tournament." It may be remembered that in
writing to his friend Baker, in March, 1768, Chatterton says :
" ' The Tournament,' I have only one canto of, which I send
herewith ; the remainder is entirely lost," but it has been
suggested by Professor Skeat, with great probability, that the
reference is not to the fine poem about the Bristol Tilting
before Edward the First, but to a fragment entitled "The
Unknown Knight, or the Tournament," of which only one
canto remains. " The Tournament " proper was apparently
written to confirm the theory that a Sir Simon de Burton was
really the founder of a church dedicated to " Our Ladie," on
the site now occupied by St. Mary Redcliff. It is one of the
" original " manuscripts Barrett obtained from Chatterton, and
of assisting in the manufacture of which the surgeon was,
probably, not guiltless. It is styled " Vita Burtoni," and
recounts in pseudo-antique prose the story the poet tells
herein in verse. Who Sir Simon Burton was, and how he came
to build a church in honour of the " Holye Virgynne Marye,
Moder of Godde," is fully set forth in the poem. Edward the
First is supposed to be keeping Christmas, in 1285, at Bristol,
and, having many doughty warriors in his train, establishes a
three days' " jouste " outside the city. Several knights of
renown have their prowess tested in tilting matches, until
at last Sir Ferrars Neville remains conqueror over all who
have ventured into the lists. Then it is that Sir Simon de
Burton, supposed to be a wealthy merchant and an alderman
of Bristol, vows that, if he succeed in overthrowing Sir Ferrars,
he will build a church on the spot, and dedicate it to
our Lady.

Neville and several of his comrades, including a Sir John de
Burghamme, are speedily disposed of by Sir Simon, who then
takes a rest, whilst a stranger knight holds the field, and in his
turn vanquishes five other knights. This result puts Burton
upon his mettle; he challenges and overthrows the unknown
filter. Before encountering him, hovi^ever, the valorous, but

324 APPENDICES

somewhat too braggart alderman makes the vow referred to,
and in these terms : —

"By thee, Saint Mary, and thy Son, I swear,
That in what place yon doughty knight shall fall.
Against the strong push of my stretched-out spear.
There shall arise a holy church's wall.
The which in honour, I will Mary call.
With pillars large, and spire full high and round.
And this I faithfully will stand to all,
If yonder stranger falleth to the ground.
Stranger, be ready ; I challenge you to war ;
Sound, sound, the trumpets, to be heard from far."

Chatterton narrates this romantic legend in a highly poetic
strain, not free, however, from cruel, bloodthirsty incidents
which he deems characteristic, as they were, of the period
he was singing, but are introduced too frequently and
too melodramatically in his versified tales of olden times to
gratify a modern audience. "The Tournament" is a concise
and complete story, but another quasi-historical chronicle, "The
Battle of Hastings," is a production of quite another kind.
Notwithstanding its great length, it is only a fragment, or
rather two fragments, and never arrives at any conclusion,
not even getting as far as the death of King Harold.

The history of this poem is curious. The record runs that
one day Chatterton handed to Barrett the manuscript of an
incomplete metrical work, endorsed " ' The Battle of Hastings,'
wrote by Turgot the Monk, a Saxon in the tenth century, and
translated by Thomas Rowlie, parish preeste of St. John's, in
the city of Bristol, in the year 1465. The remainder of the
poem I have not been happy enough to meet with." The lad
evidently thought that 1066 was in the tenth century !

It is said that Barrett urged Chatterton so strongly to bring him
the original manuscript of this poem, that the youth was at last
obliged to confess that he was the author, and had written the
poem himself for a friend. Seeing that the transcript was in
the same orthography that the other Rowley pieces were, and
that the composition was equal to and even similar to the other
works from the supposed antique parchments, that confession

APPENDICES 325

would have thoroughly opened the eyes of the surgeon, had he
not been wilfully blind. Whatever his remarks may have been,
he was satisiaed by Chatterton's promise to bring him another
poem on the same theme, really written by Rowley. After an
interval sufficiently long for the youth to have composed it, he
did hand Barrett a second and even longer poem on " The
Battle of Hastings," written in a similar style to the first, and
this the surgeon accepted as the veritable production of Turgot
translated by Rowley.

Despite numerous true poetic passages, fine similes and
brilliant descriptions, these long drawn-out epical " Battles of
Hastings" are too tedious for the present generation, and weary
the reader with frequent repetition of tragic incidents and
scenes of bloodshed. The second of the poems is finer in
construction, more fluent in style, and more modern in tone
than the earlier " Battle," but both are evidently from the same
pen.

Various eclogues, or pastoral poems, full of rustic artlessness
and simplicity, are included in the Rowley poems, and are
further proof of their author's versatility. The first of these
eclogues, as published in most collections, consists of a dialogue
between two peasants, both of whom have suffered in " The
Barons' War," one the loss of his father, and the other of his
only son. A modernised version of the first stanza will show
the vigorous, manly style of the youthful author : —

" When England, smoking from her deadly wound,
From her galled neck did pluck the chains away,
Knowing her lawful sons fall all around,
(Mighty they fell, 'twas Honour led the fray).
Then in a dell, by eve's dark mantle gray,
Two lonely shepherds did a sudden fly,
(The rustling leaf doth their white hearts affray).
And with the owlet trembled and did cry :
First Robert Neatherd his sore bosom stroke,
Then fell upon the ground and thus he spoke."

A second eclogue deals with " Coeur de Lion's " victory over
the Saracens. It is a kind of psean sung by " the pious Nigel "
over the exploits of the English in Palestine, concluding with

326 APPENDICES

the reception of the singer's father on his triumphant return by
his poetic son. A noble feature of this piece is the refrain
which, with slight variations, finishes off each stanza.

A discourse between " A Man, a Woman, and Sir Roger," the
priest, is the subject of another of these pastoral pieces. It
opens with the author's invocation : —

" Wouldst thou ken Nature in her better part ?
Go search the huts and hovels of the hind ;
If they have any, it is rough made art.
In them you see the native form of kind.
Haveth your mind a liking of a mind ?
Would it ken everything as it might be ;
Would it hear phrase of vulgar from the hind,
Without wiseacre words and knowledge free ?
If so read this, which I disporting penned,
If (naught) beside, its rhyme may it commend."

In the chat between the man and the woman is discussed the
eternal question of the disparity between the wealthy and the
poor : why the peasant should labour for the rich. They put
the subject to the parson Sir Roger, for his explanation, which,
as recorded by the poet, is not very satisfactory, and reads as if
it were not intended to be. The last of these rustic pieces is of
a more poetic nature, and is alluded to by Dr. Gregory,
Chatterton's first biographer, as "one of the most pathetic
tales I have ever read."

This eclogue, " Elinor and Juga," is the poem referred to by
Thistlethwaite, in his reminiscences of the young poet. It de-
scribes the sorrows of two maidens whose lovers have been
slain in the " Wars of the Roses," betwixt the houses of York
and Lancaster. It is of a highly romantic tone ; somewhat too
deeply imbued with the Mrs. Radcliffe spirit to suit the more
prosaic tendencies of later times, and deprived of the Rowley
language loses much of its charm. One stanza will suffice to
display its mannerisms : —

" Sisters in sorrow, on this daisied bank,
Where Melancholy broods, we will lament.

APPENDICES 327

Be wet with morning dew and even dank ;

Like stricken oaks in each the other bent ;

Or like forsaken halls of merriment,

Where ghastly ruins hold the train of fright,

Where boding ravens bark, and owlets wake the night."

If not displaying such strokes of genius as do other pieces of
the Rowley poems, Chatterton's " Story of William Canynge "
is of more importance with respect to the authorship than the
other metrical productions of the collection from the fact that,
according to Cottle, the first thirty-four lines of it are, with the
exception of one short poem, the only scrap of poetry produced
as an " original Rowley" on vellum by their youthful discoverer.
All the other pieces are " transcripts " by Chatterton, or in the
handwriting of his copyists, Barrett and George Catcott. This
account of Canynges is completed from a copy of the entire
poem furnished by Catcott, revised by another copy in the
possession of Barrett, and is intended to supplement, or be
included in, the prose history of the " painters, carvers, poets,
and other eminent natives of Bristol, from the earliest times "
to the days of Rowley himself. The reputed author introduces
his theme in this wise : —

" Aside a brooklet as I lay reclined,
Listening to hear the waters glide along,
Minding how thorough the green meads it twined
Awhilst the caves responsed its muttering song,
At distance, rising Avon to be sped,
Mingled with rising hills, did show its head."

Whilst he (Rowley) is musing by the river's bank, thinking of
the many famous men who have dwelt or fought by that Avon,
he beholds a beauteous maiden arise from the stream. She
informs the priest-poet that she is Truth, and telling him that
she has beheld many warriors and learned men and others of
renown, adds : —

" But there's a Canynge to increase the store,
A Canynge, who shall buy up all their fame ; "

and commands him to take her power and behold what true

328 APPENDICES

nobility there was in the man. Then, Rowley forgotten in his
poetic fervour, Chatterton exclaims : —

" Straight was I carried back to times of yore,
Whilst Canynge swathed yet in fleshly bed,
And saw all actions which had been before.
And all the scroll of Fate unravelled ;
And when the fate-marked babe acome to sight
I saw him eager, gasping after light.

In all his simple gambols and child's play,

In every merry-making, fair, or wake,

I kenned a scattered light of Wisdom's ray ;

He ate down learning with the wastel cake,

As wise as any of the aldermen,

He'd wit enough to make a mayor at ten."

Rowley proceeds to recount in verse the story of Canynges's
career, concluding with the couplet : —

" ' This is the man of men,' the vision spoke ;
Then bell for evensong my senses woke."

The same story, it should be stated, is written out more fully
in prose, and with many more picturesque embellishments, in
another of the Rowley documents, published in the Town and
Country Magazine for November, 1775, five years after Chatterton's
death. Three shorter pieces, in which it is sought to combine
the glories of St. Mary Redcliff with those of the supposed
rebuilder of them, William Canynges junior, find a place in the
Rowley poems, the last of the three ending with the suggestive
lines : —

" Then all did go to Canynge's house,
An interlude to play.
And drink his wine and ale so good.
And pray for him for aye."

And " an interlude," said to have been played by the
CarmeUte Friars, at Master Canynges's great house, is " The
Parliament of Sprites," the joint production of Thomas Rowley
and John Iscam. The Introduction, by Queen Mab, tells in

APPENDICES 329

sprightly verse how, at the " witching hour of night," the sprites
of famous men revisit the earth, " and take their walk the
churchyard through." Amongst the sprites who appear and
speak in presumably characteristic terms are Nimrod, the great
hunter, with a chorus of Assyrians, and various Bristolians, best
known through Rowley's verse, all of whom pay homage to the
grandeur of Redcliff Church and the nobility of its presumed
builder, Chatterton's ideal man, Canynges.

A truly noble poem, " The World," which originally appeared
in Barrett's " History of Bristol," has somehow failed to attract
that notice it deserves, and which some of the Rowley poems
with less claims to admiration have obtained. It was, probably,
suggested to Chatterton by the interlude of the " Seven Deadly
Sins " in Marlowe's " Dr. Faustus ; " and is one of the many
proofs, exhibited by allusions and sentences in the Rowley
poems, that their author was a sympathetic student of
Marlowe's works. It is not claiming too much to say that
in this poem Chatterton has improved upon his prototype ;
not, of course, that it is likely Marlowe himself invented those
particular "Seven Deadly Sins " ; they are, evidently, some of
the " additions " by a weaker pen. In " The World " minstrels,
garbed as sprites, are called forth by a father to warn his young
son of the alluring falsehoods of life, and to counsel him how to
get wealth. The poem, as modernised, is as follows ; — ■

" Father. New to the World and its deceptive way
This youngster, son of mine, is all my care ;
Ye minstrels, warn him how with care he stray
Where gilded vice doth spread his netted Snare.
To getting wealth I would he should be bred,
And crowns of ruddy gold, not glory, bind his head.

I Minstrel. My name is Interest, 'tis I
Doth into all bosoms fly ;

Each one's hidden secret's mine ; '

None so worthy, good, and dyne, '
But will find it to his cost.
Interest will rule the roast.
I to every one give laws.
Self is first in every cause.

' Worthy.

330 APPENDICES

2 Min. I am a vagrant flame
Of flick'ring melancholy :
Love some do call my name,
Some bename me Folly.
In sprites of melting mould
I set my burning seal ;
To me a miser's gold
Doth not a pin avail.
I prey upon the health,
And from good counsel flee ;
The man who would get wealth
Must never think of me.

3 Min. I am the imp of Pride, my haughty head
Would reach the clouds and still be rising high ;
Too little is the earth to be my bed,

Too narrow for my breathing place the sky.
Scornful I see the world beneath me lie.
But to my betters I so little gree,'
Less than the shadow of a shade I be ;
'Tis to the small alone that I can multiply.

4 Min. I am the imp of Usury ; look around.
The airs about me thieves do represent ;
Bloodstained robbers spring from out the ground,
And airy visions swarm around my ente.'

O save my monies, it is their intent

To filch the red God of my frighted sprite,

What joy can usurers have, or day or night !

5 Min. Vice be hight, or gold full oft I ride,
Full fair unto the sight for aye I seem ;

My ugliness with golden veils I hide.

Laying my lovers in a silken dream ;

But when my untrue pleasures have been tried,

Then do I show all horrorness and rou3

And those I have in net would fain my grip eschew.

' Seem. ' Purse. 3 Ugliness.

APPENDICES 331

6 Min. I am great Death ; all ken me by the name,
But none can say how I do loose the sprite ;
Good men my tarrying delay do blame,
But most rich usurers from me take flight ;
Mickle of wealth I see where'er I came,
It doth my terror greatly multiply.
And maketh them afraid to live or die.

Father. How, villain Minstrels, and is this your rede ?
Away, away ! I will not give a curse.
My son, my son, of this my speech take heed,
Nothing is good that bringeth not to purse."

Allusion has already been made to a fragment called " The
Unknown Knight, or The Tournament," one of those few
literary fragmentary pieces the reader wishes for more of, and
echoes the poet's desire to " call up him who left half told the
story of Cambuscan bold." It is this clever piece that Mr.
Watts-Dunton refers to in his critique, in " Ward's Poets,"
upon the influence of Chatterton's metrical construction upon
the poetry of his most famous successors. With regard to the
claim of Coleridge, when he spoke of the variations he had
made in the iambic lines of " Christabel," as " founded on a
new principle," Mr. Watts-Dunton points out that this new
principle had been already used by Chatterton. He notes that
Coleridge " has been much praised, and very justly, for such
effects as this : —

"And Christabel saw the lady's eye,
And nothing else saw she thereby,
Save the boss of the shield of Sir Leoline tall,
Which hung in a murky old niche in the wall ; "

and compares them with similar results obtained by Chatterton ;
citing some lines of his which have the "Christabel ring,"
implying that Coleridge had got the " Rowley ring " from his
youthful predecessor's lines ; " the ring which Scott only half-
caught, and which Byron failed to really catch at all," says
the critic. He compares the variations introduced in " The
Unknown Knight " with Coleridge's remarks of his own metres

332 APPENDICES

in " correspondence with some transition in the nature of the
imagery or passion." Such variations, or transitions of mood,
are most skilfully or probably, in this case, intuitively displayed
in " The Unknown Knight," as : —

I.

" The Mattin-bell had sounded long,
The Cocks had sung their morning song,
When lo ! the tuneful Clarions' sound
(Wherein all other noise was drown' d)
Did echo to the rooms around,
And greet the ears of Champion strong ;
' Arise, arise from downy bed.
For Sun doth gin to shew his head.'

II.
Then each did don in seemly gear,
What armour each beseemed to wear,
And on each shield devices shone,
Of wounded hearts and battles won,
All curious and nice each one ;
With many a tasselled spear ;
And, mounted each one on a steed,
Unknown, made ladies' hearts to bleed.

rv.
O'Rocke upon his courser fleet.
Swift as lightning were his feet.
First gained the lists and gat him fame ;
From West Hibernee Isle he came.
His might depictured in his name.
All dreaded such an one to meet ;
Bold as a mountain-wolf he stood,
Upon his sword sat grim and blood.

V.
But when he threw down his Asenglave,'
Next came in Sir Botelier bold and brave

' Gauntlet.

APPENDICES 333

The death of many a Saracen ;

They thought him a devil from Hell's black den,

Not thinking that any of mortal men

Could send so many to the grave.

For his life to John Rumsey he rendered his thanks,

Descended from Godred, the King of the Manks.

VI.

Within his sure rest he settled his spear,

And ran at O'Rocke in full career ;

Their lances with the furious stroke

Into a thousand shivers broke,

Even as the thunder tears the oak.

And scatters splinters here and there :

So great the shock, their senses did depart,

The blood all ran to strengthen up the heart.

VII.

Sir Boteher Rumsie first came from his trance,
And from the Marshall took the lance ;
O'Rocke eke chose another spear,
And ran at Sir Botelier full career ;
His prancing steed the ground did tear ;
In haste he made a false advance ;
Sir Botelier seeing, with might amain.
Felled him down upon the plain.

vin,
Sir Pigot Norlin at the Clarions' sound,
On a milk white steed with gold trappings around,
He couched in his rest his silver-point spear.
And fiercely ran up in full career ;
But for his appearance he paid full dear.
In the first course laid on the ground ;
Besmeared in the dust with his silver and gold,
No longer a glorious sight to behold.

IX.

Sir Botelier then having conquered his twain.
Rode conqueror off the tourneying plain.

334 APPENDICES

Recemng a garland from Alice's hand,

The fairest lady in the land.

Sir Pigot this viewed, and furious did stand,

Tormented in mind and bodily pain.

Sir Botelier crowned, most gallantly stood,

As some tall oak within the thick wood."

There are a few more stanzas describing combats between
other knights but differing Uttle in results. The whole of
the fragment is full of boyish fancy ; of the glamour of Faery-
land, free from the worldly taint which smirches the lad's later
sarcastic verses.

Dealing with the effect of Chatterton's IjTical productions
upon the work of the most eminent nineteenth-century poets
of the Romantic school, Mr. Watts-Danton, whose critique on
the young poet's position in EngUsh Uterature is quite a
revelation, asserts that "as to the romantic spirit, it would
be difficult to name any one of his successors in whom the
high temper of romance has shown so intense a life," and
he points out, especially instancing the preceding ballad, how
his metrical forms have been adopted and used by some of his
most famous followers. Seeing his influence upon after poetry,
" worked primarily through Coleridge," and his influence upon
Shelley and Keats, and through " the enormous influence these
latter have had on subsequent poets, it seems impossible
to refuse to Chatterton the place of the father of the Romantic
school." Of course, those remarks apply only to the Rowley
poems ; the modern pieces are all of the earth, earthy, and
whatever their merits, have had little or no power over the
minds of men of later times.

Besides the pieces already passed in review, there are
several other pseudo-antique poems in the Rowley collections
nearly all of which need revision, after collation with the
original manuscripts. None of them seem to call for particular
mention here, as most, if not all, of them are similar in style
and metrical treatment to those dealt with. " The Merrie
Tricks of Lamyngetowne," by Maistre John a Iscam, in the
revised Spenserian metre, is the most important and longest ;
but, Uke many other pieces ascribed to the associates of Rowley,
appears to have been left untinished.

APPENDIX F

PORTRAITS OF CHATTERTON

IN the " Dictionary of National Biography " Charles Kent
states that of the eight reputed portraits of Chatterton,
" one alone is of indisputable authenticity." As a matter of fact,
the existence is known of many more than eight, but the authen-
ticity of none is probable. The first of those mentioned by
Charles Kent is a painting alleged to be by Hogarth. It was
shown at the second exhibition of national portraits at South
Kensington in 1867. It was lent by the Peel Park Museum,
Salford, to which institution it had been given by Alderman
Thomas Agnew in 1853. It has been proved conclusively that
it could not be a painting by Hogarth of Thomas Chatterton, as
Hogarth died before the poet was twelve years old, and the
picture represents a youth of seventeen.

The second of these pseudo-portraits is referred to by
Fulcher in his " Life of Gainsborough." He states : " It is
said that Chatterton also sat to Gainsborough, and that the
portrait of the marvellous boy, with his long flowing hair and
childish face, is a masterpiece." Doubts having been expressed
in Notes and Queries as to Gainsborough having ever painted
such a portrait, two strangely differing accounts were sent to
that publication as to the existence of the picture, but it was
finally proved that no portrait of the young poet could have been
made by the painter alleged. Various correspondents have
written to assure me they possess the identical portrait, but not
one is able to adduce any real evidence of authenticity.

The existence of the third "counterfeit presentment"
scarcely calls for comment, as it is only known of by the
supposititious account ascribed to Mrs. Edkins in the notorious
Appendix to Dix's " Life of Chatterton." This unknown

33S

336 APPENDICES

portrait is said to have been painted by Francis Wheatley, a
Royal Academician.

The fourth item in the list is in some respects the most
interesting of the whole catalogue. It seems to indicate posi-
tively the existence of a known portrait of the poet, and being
almost pubHcly exhibited a few years after his death would
doubtless come under the gaze of some who had been personally
acquainted with his features. It is "a profile in relief of the
unfortunate boy," placed over a mausoleum in the grounds of
The Hermitage, near Lansdowne Crescent, Bath, the residence
of a Mr. Philip Thicknesse. Writing to the editor of the
Lady's Magazine, in 1783, Mr. Thicknesse describes this
memorial of Chatterton in somewhat sentimental terms, but
in no way implies that the portrait is other than an authentic
one. A view of it is given.

In the " Dictionary of National Biography" Mr. Kent says,
" Chatterton is said to have drawn a picture of himself in his
Blue-coat dress, being led by his mother towards the canopied
altar-tomb of William Canynges. No such drawing, however,
has been discovered." It is not stated by whom it " is said,"
but the reference is, doubtless, with variations, to one of John
Dix's mythical stories. Chatterton could have made a portrait
more or less faithful of himself if he had desired, but the
origin of this legendary account may be traced to an illustration
adorning the programme printed for a concert held at Bristol,
in commemoration of Chatterton, at the Assembly Rooms,
Friday, December 3, 1784. This picture shows " Genius
conducting Chatterton, in the habit of a Blue-coat boy, to her
altar," a somewhat tomb-like construction. Chatterton is por-
trayed as a chubby-cheeked boy having a large head showing
the tonsure on it. St. Mary Redcliff Church is seen in the
background. Nicholas Pocock, a well-known Bristol painter,
was responsible for the design.

Number six refers to " an odious, fancy sketch, hideously out
of drawing and execrably engraved," which " has for many
years passed current among the printsellers as a portrait of
Chatterton." This so-called portrait is stated by Evans to be
from a picture belonging to the poet's sister. It is taken from a
vignette published in The Monthly Visitor for January, 1797.
It has no authority.

APPENDICES 337

What Mr. Kent described as an "exquisite engraving"
is of the boy's head prefixed to Dix's " Life of Chatterton,"
and issued as drawn by N. C. Branwhite. It is evidently
a copy, with some slight variations, of the picture by
Morris, a Bristol artist, formerly belonging to the Braikenridge
family and bequeathed by Mr. W. J. Braikenridge to the Bristol
Museum. It was purchased in 182 1 from Mr. W. Sheppard, a
Bristol bookseller, by Mr. George W. Braikenridge, and was
said by Sheppard to have been bought from a Mr. George
Burge, who stated that he had it from his landlord, and that
he believed it to be a genuine portrait of Chatterton. The
evidence against its authenticity is strong, but the tales told of
its fictitious origin are too various and contradictory to entitle any
of them to the credit they have obtained. In acknowledging the
receipt from Dix of an engraved copy of this portrait, Southey
wrote that he " immediately recognised a resemblance in the
portrait to Mrs. Newton (Chatterton's sister), of whose counte-
nance I seem to myself to have that strong impression which is
retained of those whom we have seen with more than ordinary
interest in early hfe." And again, in his " Life and Corre-
spondence," vol. vi. p. 384, Southey declares : " The portrait of
Chatterton which Mr. Dix discovered identifies itself, if ever
portrait did. It brought his sister, Mrs. Newton, strongly to my
recollection. No family likeness could be more distinctly
marked considering the disparity of years." This is strong
evidence in favour of the portrait, if not painted from Chatterton
direct, being derived from a genuine picture of the lad, whom it
depicts as about eight to ten years of age. At the age
mentioned Chatterton was a pupil at Colston's, wearing the
Blue-coat dress and having his hair cut short, whilst the picture
by Morris is of a boy in a red coat, with long flowing hair.
Fancy dress and wigs are not likely to have been in Chatterton's
way, so that the authenticity of the portrait is hard to establish,
but having no better effigies of the poet, and accepting Southey's
testimony of the likeness to Mrs. Newton, it is offered to our
readers for consideration. The original picture in the Bristol
Museum has inscribed on the back of it, " T. Chatterton,
A. Morris, Pinxt. March 25, 1762"; that is to say, when the poet
was nine years and eight months old.

Charles Kent's hst of eight portraits by no means exhausts

22

338 APPENDICES

the number of supposititious pictures of the young bard. In a
letter of the i8th of April, 1883, the Rev. Dr. H. P. Stokes wrote to
the editor of the Bristol Times and Mirror, he drew attention to
various presentments of Chatterton he had met with. Besides
some of those above referred to he mentions the following : a
sketch of the poet printed in blue on a large, apparently, cotton
handkerchief, preserved in the British Museum. Dr. Stokes
gives an account of this portrait from the Westminster Magazine
of July, 1782, but is, it would seem, unaware that the print is
taken from a popular copper-plate picture known as " The
Distressed Poet." It is stated in the magazine that " the paint-
ing from which the engraving was taken of the distressed poet
was the work of a friend of the unfortunate Chatterton. This
friend drew him in the situation in which he is represented ;
. . . anxieties and cares had advanced his life, and had given him
an older look than was suited to his age. The sorry apartment
portrayed in the print, the folded bed, &c., are not the invention
of fancy. They are realities."

Dr. Stokes speaks of a vignette, purporting to be of Chatterton,
which appeared in the Monthly Visitor for January, 1797. He
considers it the most remarkable of all the known portraits of
the poet, and describes the face as very striking and as having
struck him as most likely to be the original of them all. It does
not appeal to us so strongly : it is from the same original as
that described by Kent as " an odious fancy sketch." All these
pseudo-portraits appear to point to some unknown primary
picture.

Two other paintings referred to by Dr. Stokes are confessedly
imaginative ; they are " The Death of Chatterton," by H. Single-
ton, and another on the same subject by John Cranch. The
beautiful picture by Wallis, having a similar theme, is well
known. It is in the Tate Gallery. There are many other
paintings, more or less known, illustrative of various incidents,
true or fancied, of Chatterton's career.

INDEX

" JElla," a tragedy, 70, 77, 79, gi,

158-60
" African Eclogues," 247-50
Agrippa, Cornelius, 23, 186
Allen, Bristol organist, 233-4, 245-6
" Anecdotes of Painting," by Walpole,

161, 163, 166
"Amphitryon," a burletta, 187, 252
Angel, Mrs., 262, 265, 275, 280
Angell, Frederick, 282
Apostate," " The, a drama, 124-5, 284
" Apostate Will," verses, 43, 45
Arnold, Dr. Samuel, musician, 218

220, 252, 254, 284
"Articles of Belief," 197
"Asaphides" (sec Lockstone), 176, 178
"Astrea (sic) Brockage," a tale, 95
Atterbury, Luffman, 224, 252-3

Baddeley's Bath Journal, 276
Bailey's Dictionary, 62, 114, 200
Baker, Chatterton's correspondent,

48, 56,60, 89, 99, 113,211
Baker, Mrs. and Miss, 59
Baker, Sir Richard, " Chronicles," 62
" Balade of Charitie," 266-70
Ballance, Mrs., 92, 206, 209, 211, 213,

243, 263, 284
Barrett, William, 23 ; helps Chatter-
ton, 83, 91, 94, 95, 100, 106, 107,
126 ; collaborates with Chatterton,
126-32, 133-S, 139; aids in " De
Burgham Pedigree," 141-2 ; drafts
letter for Walpole, 162-3, 170, i77,
180, 184-5, 189, 195-6, 200, 204, 219,
252, 274, 275, 278-81, 289
Barton, Dr. Cutts, Dean of Bristol,

194, 236
Baster, 86

Bath Journal (Baddeley's), 276
" Battle of Hastings," poems, 77, 78,
79, 106, 133-5

Bawdin, Sir Charles," "The Execu-
tion of, 42, 105, 119, 129

Beckford, William, Lord Mayor of
London, 226, 229, 242-4

Bedford, Duke of, 220

Bell, Mr. Edward, " Memoirs of
Chatterton," 271-2

Bentley, Thomas, " Patriotism," 102

Berkeley, George, Bishop of Cloyne,

237
Bingham, Joseph, 44-5
Bingley, North Briton, 243
"Blue Coat School," see Christ's

Hospital, London
Bodleian Library, 221
Boyle, Hon. Robert, 153
Bristol Bridges, old and new, 81-5,

109, 121
Bristol," "History of,W. Barrett's, 23,

144, 162, 170, i8o ; Chatterton's

" Account," 278-9
Bristol Charters, 62
Bristol Mayor and Sheriffs, 52
Bristol Museum MSS., 173, 223
Bristol Town Clerk, 52
" Bristowe Tragedie," see Bawdin,

Sir Charles
British Museum MSS., 59, 83, no,

132, 133, I39> 167, 197. 200, 251,

254, 278
Broderip, Bristol musician, 233, 245
Brook Street, Holborn, 262-83
Broughton, A. and J., 211
Broughton, Rev. Dr. Thomas, 136, 183
Bryant, Jacob, 64, 92, 97, 153-4
Burgum, Henry, 120, 121 ; his pedi-
gree, 131, 135-42, 180, 189, 191, I9S

(note), 219
Burns, 204
Bush, Miss, 278
Bute, Earl of, 230, 236
Byron, Lord, 91, 137, 204

339

340

INDEX

Camden's " Britannia," 62
Camplin, Rev. — , senior, 193, 238
Candidates," " The, lines to, 207-8, 223
Canynges, Robert, mytliical person, 69
Canynges, William, 25, his coffer,
25-6 ; his MSS., 26, 27, 29, 65, 67,
68, 70, 71, 72, 80-1 ; " Storie of
Canynge," 96 ; MSS., 104, 135,
161-2, 164, 229
Capel, Thomas, 92, 97-8, 108
Carpenter, John, Bishop of Worces-
ter, 70, 71
Carty, Mr. and Mrs., 211, 226,229
Cary, Thomas, 47, 48 ; Chatterton's
" second self," 49, 61, 73, 90, 98-
loi, 210, 211, 212, 233, 243-4;
Chatterton's letter to, 244
" Castle of Otranto," 162, 172
Catch, musical, by T. Chatterton

senior, 21-22
Catcott, Rev. A., Vicar of Temple
Church, Bristol, 143-SI. I77. 180,
189, 194, 218, 219, 221, 238
Catcott, Rev. A. S., Rector of St.

Stephen's, Bristol, 120
Catcott, George Symes, 57, 86, 88,
91, 94, 98, 100, 107, 113, 119-24,
126, 130, 131, 133, 139, 142, 143.
145, ISO, 160, 176, 179, 191, 193,
194, 274-7, 284. 289
Catcott, Martha, 88, 143
Cator, Mr. (Kator ?), 156
Catcott, Thomas, 143
Chadderdons, 19, 25, 35
Chapter Coffee-house, 210, 211, 222
Chard, Edmund, 28, 29
Charitie," " Balade of, 266-70
Charlston, South Carolina, 56
Chatterton, Alanus, mythical person,

192
Chatterton, Giles Malpas, 24
Chatterton, Guateroine, mythical

person, 192
Chatterton, John, 19-20
Chatterton, Mary, see Nevi/ton, Mrs.
Chatterton, Thomas, senior, birth, 20;
at Colston's Hospital, 21 ; writing-
master, 21 ; learns Latin, 21 ; mas-
ter of Pile St. School, 21 ; appointed

chaunter, 21 ; composes music, 21-
22 ; a great reader, 23 ; believes in
magic, 23 ; marriage, 23-4 ; eccen-
tricities, 24 ; death, 25, 51 ; obtains
Canynges MSS., 25-7, 63, 193

Chatterton, Mrs., marriage, 23-4 ; a
widow, 28 ; son Thomas born, 29 ;
leaves Pile Street, 29 ; her abilities,
29-39 ; her signature, 52 ; has
"Rowley" MSS., 63-66; hands
papers to St. Mary's officials, 66 ;
to G. Catcott, 123-4 > lends her
papers to Croft, 287-9 > closing
years and death, 286-90

Chatterton, Thomas, junior ; birth,
29 ; baptized, 29 ; put to school, 31 ;
returned as dullard, 31 ; learns o
read, 31 ; anecdotes of, 32 ; sent
to Colston's Hospital school, 35 ;
school years, 35-50 ; rambles in St.
Mary Redcliff, 35-6 ; friendship
with Headmaster, 37 ; reads in his
playtime, 38 ; catalogues his books,
38 ; confirmed, 38 ; composes
verses, 38 ; contributes to Bristol
paper, 39 ; " Sly Dick," 40 ; " The
Churchwarden," 42 ; " Apostate
Will," 43-5 ; friendship with Phil-
lips, 45 ; with Baker, 49 ; with
Thomas Cary, 49 ; reads the poets,
50 ; leaves Colston's, 50 ; appren-
ticed to Lambert, 51-2 ; at Lambert's,
51-186 ; corresponds with Baker,
56-60 ; books he read, 62 ; discovers
the MSS., 63-6 ; his imitations, 66 ;
his method of work, 74-8 ; account
of the old Bridge, 81-5 ; his asso-
ciates, 87-118 ; not sullen or gloomy,
87-8 ; indifferent to female society,
88 ; an agreeable associate, 91 ;
his appearance, 91-3 ; temperate
habits, 93-4 ; his sayings, 94 ; exten-
sive reading, 95 ; Sunday rambles,
96 ; Gary's reminiscences, 98-101 ;
Thistlethwaite's reminiscences, loi-
7 ; Palmer's reminiscences, 107-9 !
W. B. Smith's reminiscences, log-
13 ; would learn Latin, lio-li ;
rambles, 112; "The Infallible

INDEX

341

Doctor," 113-14 ; Bristol Elders,
119-56 ; lines on " Happiness," 122 ;
invoices " Rowley," 124 ; missing
MSS., 124-5 and 284 ; Barrett's co-
operation, 127-32 ; acquaintance
with Burgum, 135-7; " De Burgham
Pedigree," 137-42 ; acquaintance
with Rev. A. Catcott, 143-51 ;
writes "February, an Elegy," 152-3;
friendship with Clayfield, 154-6 ;
seeks a patron, 157 ; writes to
Dodsley, 158-60 ; corresponds with
Walpole, 161-73 i writes to
Stephens, 176-8 ; makes a will, 184-
95 ; on suicide, 182-4 ; leaves
Lambert's, 186 ; raising a spirit,
186-7 ; his opinions, 196-7; "Articles
of Belief," 197 ; " Kew Gardens,"
199; poetic fragments, 200-3; leaves
for London, 204 ; writes home, 205;
publishes " The Candidates," 207 ;
lodges in Shoreditch, 206 ; letter
home, 209 ; writes to Bristol acquain -
tances,2io-ii ; lines to "The Society
at Spring Gardens," 216-17 I writes
home, 217-20 ; his female acquain-
tances, 219 ; his poems in " The
Deluge " volume, 221 ; his account
book, 222-25 ; letters home, 225-40 ;
Beckford's death, 242-4 ; his " Afri-
can Eclogues," 246-50 ; revises
"Amphitryon " into "The Revenge,"
251-61 ; moves to Brook Street and
writes home, 262 ; letter home, 264 ;
" Balade of Charitie," 266-70 ; literary
labours, 271 ; writes to G. Catcott,
275 I essay on " The Gallery and
School of Nature," 277 ; for Africa,
277 ; acquaintance with Cross,
279 ; destitution, 279-81 ; death,
281-2 ; inquest, 282-3 ; burial, 283-5

Chattertonian MSS., no

Chatterton's burial-place, Appendix D,
308-12

Chatterton's portraits, 273, Apfendix

F, 335-38
Chattertons, the, 19, 23
Chaucer, 50, 62, 78, 114
Chedder, Raufe, mythical person, 71

Chipping Sodbury, 24

Christian Magazine, 264

" Christmas Day," a hymn, 197

Christ's Hospital, London (" Blue Coat
School"), 33-4, 36

Churchwarden, "The, and the Appa-
rition," 42

Cipriani, 276

Clarke's " History of the Bible," 65

Clayfield, Michael, 154-6, 185-94, 95

Cocking, Mr., 195

Cole, Rev. William, 174

Colebrook, Sir George, 226, 278

College Green, 90

Colston, Edward, 21, 33-4, 194, 196

Colston's Hospital, 21, 32, 33-8, 45-59

Colston's Trust, 53

Consuliad," " The, 224

Consultation," " The, 102

Cope, Nathaniel, 290

Corn Street, 50

Cottle, Joseph, 113, 118, 137-9, 222-3,
290

Court and City, 223, 264

Croft, Rev. Sir H., 31, 67, 85, 91, 92,
126, 206, 212, 215, 280-4, 287-8

Cross, apothecary, 279

Cruger, Henry, M.P., 100

" D. B.," see " Dunhelmus Bristoliensis "

" Death," lines on, 182

" Death of Nicou," 247-50

"De Burgham Pedigree," see Bur-
gum, Henry

" Decimus," see T. Chatterton

Defence," "The, 116-17, I97

Deluge," " Treatise on the, 145, 146

Derrick, Samuel, his will, 188

Dodsley, J., 157-60, 176, 205, 206

Dodsley, Robert, 160

Dowager," " The, a drama, 284

Dryden, 251

" Dunhelmus Bristoliensis," 81, 85,
157, 176

Edkins, Mrs., 24 ; " Account " by.

Appendix A, 292-4
Edmunds, Middlesex Journal, 199,

205, 207, 216, 217

342

INDEX

Edward IV., 157

Egerton, John, 253

" Elinoure and Juga," 1O3, 104

Enterlude," " An, 133

" Epistle to the Rev. A. Cattcott," 136,
145-51, 156, 197

Exhibition," "The, 132, 151 ; Appen-
dix B, 295-304

Eyck, John, discovery of oil painting,
166

" Faery Queen," Spenser's, 77, 171

Fairford, Gloucestershire, 47

Farley, Miss, 195

Farr, Paul, 192-3

" February, an Elegy," 152-3, 187

Felix Farley's journal, 39, 41-2, 81-5,

89, 109, 119, 127
Fell, Freeholder's Magazine, 205, 207,

209, 217, 223, 224
Ferguson, 275
Flower, John, 192, 193
Foster, Mary, 282

Fowler, Jack (" Pitholeon "), 57, 89, 240
Fox, C. J., 200

Freeholder's Magazine, 207, 211, 217
French Revolution, 196
FuUford, the grave-digger, 43

Gardiner, Rev. John, Vicar of Hen-
bury, 34
Gardner, Edward, 23, 60, 92
Gaster, Mr., 211
Gentleman's Magazine, 168, 290
Glynn, Dr. Robert, 102, 112-13, 155
" Goddwyn," a fragment, 70, 125
Golden, Bristol bookbinder, 23
Gorges, Sir Theobald, 70
Gospel Magazine, 228, 264
Grant, Bristol bookseller, loi
" Grateful Society," in memory of

Colston, 137
Gray, on Rowley poems, 168
Green, Bristol bookseller, 50
Gregory, Dr. G., 46, 91, 93, 94, 95,
119, 183, 185-6

Hamilton, Town and Country Maga-
zine, 205, 207, 223, 224, 266, 272
Hamsley, William (Walmsley .'), 282
Handel, 245

Harper's Magazine, 251

" Happiness," lines on, 122, 132

Harris, Isaac, Mayor of Bristol, 35,
194, 236, 239

Harris, Rev. Thomas, Master of Red-
cliff Grammar School, 35

Haynes, William, Head Master of
Colston's Hospital, 37, 45, 46

Haythorne's song, 241

Henderson, Bristol jeweller, 107

Henry II., 81

Henry VI., 157, 158

Heraldry, 107-8

Hill, Miss, her favourite song, 240-41

Hogarth, 276

Holidays, 37

Hoyland, Miss Maria, 58, 89

Imitations, 66-7
" Immortality of the soul," 114
Indentures of Chatterton, 51-2
Infallible Doctor," " The, 113, II4
Inquest on Chatterton, 281-4
Ireland, W. H., 50

" Irene," drama by Dr. S. Johnson, 234
Iscamme (Iscam), Canon John, mythi-
cal person, 70, 71, 133

John, Abbot, a mythical person, 71,

16S-6
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 152, 160, 230,

234, 236
Jones, Henry, Bristol author, 232
" Journal Sixth," 59, 195 (note)
"Jovial Crew," verses, 227

Kator (Cator ?), Henry, 210
Kearsley, London publisher, 243
Kenmoor, coins found at, 23
Kersey's Dictionary, 62, 114
" Kew Gardens," a poem, 136, 151,

193, 198, 199, 230-9
King, Mr., 253

Lambert, John, scrivener, 51, 52-3,
54-6, 61-2, 180, 183-7, 19s, 205, 218

Lamingestowne," " Merry Tricks of ,70

Lear," " King, " Poor Tom " in, 123

Le Grice, C. V., 75, 91, 114

Llewellin's ale-house, 150

Lockstone, Bristol draper, "Asa-
phides," 176, 178

INDEX

343

Love, Stephen, master of Pile Street

school, 29, 31, 289-90
Lydgate, John, 71

Macchiavelli, 57

Magliabecchi, 95

Maitland, Dr., 253

Malpas, Giles, 24, 28

Manksman," "The, a drama, 284

Mansfield, Earl of, 237, 244

"March, an Elegy," 187-8

Marlowe, 59, 329

Martin's " Philosophical Grammar,"

IS5

Marylebone gardens, 218, 220, 241, 253
Mason on " Rowley " poems, 168 ; and

Walpole, 174
Mason, of Bristol, 211
Mease, Matthew, 194, 211
Methodist, The, 195 (note)
Metrical formations, 76-8
Middlesex journal, 199, 207, 216-17,

223
Milles, Dean, 63, 85, 102, 251, 266
Mills, J., 281
Milton, 153, 248

Miscellanies, "" Supplement to the, 1 82
Moderator, The, 244
Moliere, 251
Monthly Mirror, 100
More, Hannah, letters from Walpole

to, 174

" Narva and Mored," . frican
Eclogue, 247-8

Newton, Dr., Bishop of Bristol, 236,
238, 275

Newton, Sir Isaac, 154

Newton, Mary Anne, 291

Newton, Mrs., birth, 24 ; letter to
Southey, 25 ; reminiscences of her
brother, Thomas Chatterton, 31-2,
46, 48, 67, 77, 79-80, 90, 96, 98, 127,
155-6, 192, 222 ; latter years and
death, 280-91

Newton, Thomas, 287

Newtons, The, 291

North Briton, 243

North, Lord, 244

Northumberland, Duke of, 218

" Ode to Liberty," 125-6
Oratorio, 270, 284
Ossory, Countess of, 168, 174
Otranto," " Castle of, 162, 172
" Our Lady's Church," 69, 79

Painting in England," " Rise of, 163-7

Palmer, Thomas, heraldic painter,
107-9, 141

Parliament of Sprites," " The, 133

Payne&Sons, London booksellers,l24

Percy's " Relics," 62

Phillips, uncle of Chatterton, 284

PhilUps, S. C, 46

Phillips, Thomas, 45, 46, 47, 48, 61
90, 99, 102-4, 154-5

Pile Street schoolhouse, 24, 28, 289-90

" Pine Apple," Bristol tavern, 22, 23 ;
a musical catch, 22

"Pitholeon," sec Fowler, Jack

Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 235

Plautus, 251

Poe, E. A., 78, 204

Political Register, 242, 246, 264

Poll Books, Bristol, 21

Pope, Alexander, 155

Portraits of Chatterton, 273, Appen-
dix F, 335-8

" Probus," pen name of Chatterton,242

Pryce, George, 66, 72, 114

Publishers,London,makepromises,l8l

" Pulvis," see W. Barrett

" Resignation," 197

Revenge," " The, 93, 220, 224, 246,
251-62 ; MS. of, 253-4

" Reynardo," sec Fox, C. J.

Richard I., lines to, 165

Robins, Rev. Mr., 234-5

Robins, Rev. Arthur, 223 (note)

" Romance of the Knight," 141-2

Romaine, William, 195

Rowley MSS., 25, 63, 86, 107 ; Key to,
114, 127-9, 141, 144, 157-60,161, 174

Rowley Poems, 166, 168, 261, Appen-
dix E, 313-34

Rowley Romance, The, 63-86, 221

Rowley, Thomas, a mythical person,
68-70, 71, 80, loi, 133, 134, 164,219,
229

344

INDEX

Rudde House, 71
Rudhall, John, 48, 8$, 86, 96, 211
Rumsey, Miss Eleanor, 57, 219-20,
227, 264

St. Augustin's Minster, 165, 169

St. Mary Redcliff church, 19 ; sextons

of, 25 ; muniment room, 25 ; MSS.,

25-7 ; rambles in, 35, 36 ; MSS., 63,

65-8, 72-3,227,234, 24s, 276-7,285,289
St. Nicholas' Church, 121
Samaritan," "Parable of the Good, 266
Saunders, Captain Edmund, 21
Savage, Richard, 237
Sawbridge, Alderman, 209, 211
"Saxon " pieces by Chatterton, 105,176
Scott, Sir W., 191
Seyer, Rev. S., 94, 129, 131, 183
Shakespeare, 62, 153
Shoe Lane Workhouse, 283, 285
Shoreditch, 206, 209, 220, 222, 263, 282
Simmons paints Burgum's portrait, 143
Skeat, Professor, 75, 77, 114, 195 (note).
" Sly Dick," 40
Small Street, Bristol, 53
Smith, Sir J., of Ashton Court, 23
Smith, Peter, 109, 143
Smith, Richard, junior, surgeon, no,

120, 137, 142, 143
Smith, Richard, senior, surgeon, 143
Smith, W. B., 48, 64,96, 109-18, 119,

143, 210, 212
Society of Antiquaries, 161
Society at Spring Gardens," lines

"To the, 216-17
Southey, 25, 118, 176, 192 (note), 233,

287-90
Speght, see Chaucer
Spenser's " Faery Queen," 77, 171
Stapleton, 23

Stephens, Mr., Salisbury, 158, 175-7
Stillingfleet, Edward, 44, 45
Stokes, Rev. Dr. H. P., 289, 290, 338
Stowe, John, 79
Strawberry Hill printing press, 168

Theobald, Lewis, 161
Thistlethwaite, James, 47, 48, 95, loi-
7, 108, i8i-2, 203

Thomas, Joe, 42-43

Thomas, W. Moy, 265 (note)

Thomson, James, 153, 155

Thome, 210, 220, 228

Tom's Coffee-house, 225

Tournament," " The, 58

Tovey, S. G., 137

Town and Country Magazine, 95, 105,

151, 176, 187, 188, 245, 246, 264, 266,

272, 278, 279
Townshend, Alderman, 209, 211
Trade," " Discourse on, 100
Treatise on the Deluge, 145, 146
Tudor costume worn by blue-coat

boys, 36
Turgot, 79, 134
Tyrwhitt, Thomas, 105
Tyson, W., 38

Upcott, Mr., London Institution, 254

Wales, Dowager Princess of, 230
Walmsley family, 206-7, 210. 212,

215, 263, 282
Walpole, Horace, 131-2, 143, 161-73,

174-5. i76-7> 225, 243-4, Appendix

c, 305-7

Walpole, Lines to, 172-3

Warner, Mr., schoolmaster, a mythical

person, 37
Warton, Thomas, 102, 279
Watts-Dunton, Theodore, 75, 267,

Appendix E, 334
Wesley, 44, 196
Whitfield, George, 196
Whitson, Alderman, founder of " Red

Maids School," Bristol, 120
Wilkes, John, 209, 211, 276
Will and Testament," " The Last, 156,

184-95, 199, 230, 283
Willcox, C. B., 182-3
Wilson, Professor Daniel, 35, 48, 99,

101, 104, 132, 135, 183, 188, 223
Wolffe, Mrs., 280
Woman of Spirit," " The, drama, 261

Young, Matthew, 44, 45

Young, Sarah, see Mrs. Chatterton

HNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKINO AND LONDON.